Death at Hogwarts's Doors
by fayfan
Summary: "Yes," Ukitake finally answered, "I do. It may seem far-fetched and too early for me to assume, but wouldn't you like to believe in magic as well, Tōshirō?"
1. A New Mission

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Death at Hogwarts's Doors

Chapter 1 Rewrite

by fayfan

Summer. That was the first thought that occured in Hitsugaya-taicho's mind when he woke up.

Ah, how he hated summer… The scorching, endless heat. The bright, hot sun. What was to like about that?

The jyuubantai taicho was currently in his division office, working hard to complete paperwork that Matsumoto had neglected to finish. Or even start.

"Ah, the bane of my existence," he thought.

However, Tōshirō's train of thought was interrupted when a certain busty blonde(1) walked into the room, clutching a bottle of seemingly-endless sake in one hand, and a sealed envelope in the other. No matter how many bottles he confiscated, there always seemed to be more.

"Taicho~!" Matsumoto called, her voice slightly slurred. "This just came in from the soutaicho! He said to open it and read it immediately!"

Matsumoto walked over to her taicho's desk, handed him the envelope, swayed off to the side, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Snoring could be heard coming from her.

"Matsumoto…" Tōshirō growled. His fukutaicho waltzes into his office slightly drunk, hands him a letter, and falls asleep on his couch — all before saying what this is even about. Great.

Tōshirō sighed, completed the last request for going on leave (it was another one from Matsumoto; another one which he denied), and set aside the rest of the paperwork. Now, time to open that envelope.

Tōshirō unsealed the envelope with a slight leak of his reiatsu and removed its contents. There was a letter and another envelope inside, both giving the taicho a bad feeling.

"What are these about?" Tōshirō wondered as he folded open the letter. It was from the soutaicho, clearly identifiable by the neat, precise handwriting. It said:

Hitsugaya-taicho,

I have recieved a request from a certain contact of mine in Great Britain named Dumbledore Albus, asking for a small group of guards for his school, its students, and a boy named Potter Harry.—

"Oh no." Tōshirō felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized where this was going.

—He asked for no more than six guards, preferably one able to be disguised as a professor, and I have decided to grant his request. You — along with jyuusanbantai-taicho Ukitake Jūshirō, rokubantai-fukutaicho Abarai Renji, jyuusanbantai member Kuchiki Rukia, and shinigami-daiko Kurosaki Ichigo — will go to the world of the living and pose as transfer students. However, Ukitake-taicho will pose as a transfer teacher of kendo. I assume you know what kendo is, so I will not explain. You will be entering the fifth year of study in his school, called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A list of what you will need is also enclosed in this envelope, so please read it too. Assuming that you have questions, please meet me in my office with the others participating in this mission at three o'clock.

Signed,

Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni

"'Witchcraft and Wizardry'?" Tōshirō thought, "'Hogwarts'? What is this?"

The taicho's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he stared intently at the letter. As the edges began to freeze, he put down the letter and began to pick up the other envelope. It was addressed to:

Mr T. Hitsugaya

Captain's Office

Tenth Division Barracks

Soul Society(2)

"What is this?" Tōshirō thought as he popped open the envelope's wax seal with his thumb's nail. It was a shield emblazoned with a capital letter H in the middle, surrounded by a lion, a snake, a badger, and an eagle.

Tōshirō then removed two pieces of parchment from inside the envelope. One was another letter, while the other was a list. The letter stated:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Hitsugaya,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

"'Warlock'? 'Mugwump'?" Tōshirō thought yet again. "This just keeps getting more suspicious. And what do they mean by 'owl'?"

However, the taicho brushed aside his worries as he began to read the list. It stated:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

of WHICHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

Students will require:

1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5) by Miranda Goshawk

Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

"…A toad?" Surely not. A cat or even an owl was acceptable to serve as a school animal, but a *toad*? Tōshirō shook his head and glanced at his clock.

Two-forty-five. That was the time. Only fifteen minutes until he had to report to the soutaicho's office, and he still had one more stack of paperwork left.

Carefully plotting his strategy (which he decided to call 'Wake Matsumoto Up and Make Her Do the Paperwork Strategy #13'), Tōshirō silently walked over to the couch and said, "Oi, Matsumoto, wake up."

Seeing as his fukutaicho continued to snore, Tōshirō crouched by her ear and quietly said, "Ichimaru-taicho is getting married."

"NANI?" Matsumoto cried as she immediately shot up into a sitting position on the couch.

"Actually, he's not," Tōshirō continued, smirking. Matsumoto pouted at him, and proceeded to reach for her unfinished bottle of sake.

However, Tōshirō quickly snatched the bottle away from her and said, "You may have this back if you finish the pile of paperwork on my desk."

"Taicho," Matsumoto whined in reply, "you're so mean." She tried to grab the bottle from him, but failed.

Tōshirō walked over to his desk and set the bottle down. "There," he said. "Now if you want, you can come over here and finish the paperwork, and I will give you this back."

Matsumoto continued to pout, but she stood up from the couch and walked over to the desk. She sat on the chair and reached for her bottle of sake, but her taicho continued to keep it from her.

Tōshirō glanced at his clock again — it was currently two-fifty — as he said, "I will go to Yamamoto-soutaicho's office now. Once I return, you may have your bottle of sake back if you are finished with the paperwork. Do you understand?"

"Yes, taicho…" Matsumoto sighed. "Good," Tōshirō replied. The taicho double-checked that she was going to do the paperwork, bound her to the chair with some high-level kido (to which she indignantly cried, "Hey!") before stepping out of the room.

It took five minutes to reach the ichibantai barracks, and another two minutes to reach the soutaicho's office. By the time he entered the office, it was two-fifty-seven.

Tōshirō halted in front of the soutaicho's office door, and knocked. A slightly gruff, "Come in," was heard, and Tōshirō stepped into the office.

Other than the soutaicho, there were five other occupants in the room: Sasakibe Chōjirō, Ukitake Jūshirō, Abarai Renji, Kuchiki Rukia, and Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Soutaicho," Tōshirō greeted, bowing. Yamamoto nodded his head in response, and Tōshirō made his way to stand by the mission's other participants. Chōjirō was standing by his captain.

"Good," the soutaicho started. "Now that everyone is here, we may begin.

"You may have questions during what I am about to tell you, but I ask that nothing is voiced while I am speaking. Now, to begin… Magic is real."

"Nani?" Renji mumbled. Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed just the slightest, as did Tōshirō's. Ukitake's eyebrows, however, shot up in surprise. Rukia's mouth was hanging slightly open in shock. Even Sasakibe flinched slightly.

"Yes," the soutaicho's voice rumbled. "Magic is real. It is very similar to our reiatsu, and can be sensed as well and will leave traces. However, unlike what we use reiatsu for, magic can be used from menial tasks such as chores, to as a weapon in war. Those who wield magic are known as witches and wizards, and they channel their magical energy through a stick known as a wand. However, other creatures exist that can perform magic without the use of a wand. They are not known as witches and wizards, and one such example is the House Elf.

"Now, for the mission details. There are schools that exist to help those possessing magical talent learn to control their abilities. The other letter you recieved was sent form a location called 'Hogwarts', correct?"

The mission participants nodded, but Sasakibe continued to stand straight and stoic.

"Good," Yamamoto continued. "Hogwarts is one such example of these schools. As stated in my letter, you will be staying there for the school year. Shinigami-daiko Kurosaki Ichigo, rokubantai-fukutaicho Abarai Renji, jyuusanbantai member Kuchiki Rukia, and jyuubantai-taicho Hitsugaya Tōshirō will act as fifth-year transfer students from Japan at Hogwarts. Jyuusanbantai-taicho Ukitake Jūshirō will act as a transfer teacher for a kendo elective from Japan as well. You may retain your real names. You are expected to guard the school, its students, and a certain boy named Potter Harry from any harm that might befall upon them. Particularly from a defected wizard who is known as 'Lord Voldemort'. However, if you may ever need to know this, his original name was Riddle Tom.

"Three days from now, you will set out to a well-known spot in the Wizarding World called Diagon Alley. It serves as a place to buy almost all the wizarding essentials, and much more. You will buy all of your school supplies there, and anything else you might need. The day after, you will move into Number Eight Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England — where you will stay until the school year starts. It is located on the same street Potter lives in, so you may also monitor him during the summer. You will then—"

"Matte matte!" Ichigo suddenly interrupted. "Are you saying that I will be gone for a whole *year*? What about—"

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Yamamoto interrupted him, "this is a long-term assignment. That is to be expected."

"But—but I don't even know English!" Ichigo said again. "And what am I supposed to tell my family? They don't exactly know I'm a shinigami. And I can't say, 'Hey, dad, Yuzu, Karin! I have to go to England undercover as a student for a year. Bye!'"

Yamamoto's eyebrow twitched. "Ah, kids these days…" he thought. But instead he said, "Tell them you were selected from your school to go to England as a transfer student with a few other students from all across Japan. As for not knowing English, that problem has already been solved."

"How?" Ichigo asked.

"You will find out when you leave," Yamamoto answered. "Now, you are expected to blend in as a student to the best of your abilities, and are to be inconspicuous. We do not need our representatives prancing around like headless-horsemen at an English school.—"

When Tōshirō pictured this in his head, he had to fake a cough to cover up his snort of amusement.

"The headmaster and deputy headmistress know of the existence of shinigami, and will guide you through your mission," Yamamoto continued. "No one else must find out of our existence. I repeat, no one. This includes Potter and any of his associates, as it may jeopardize the mission. Potter seems to have a reputation of causing trouble, as do his two closest friends, Granger Hermione and Weasley Ronald, whom you will probably be associating closely with during this mission. To sum it up, the goal for this mission is to guide Hogwarts, it's students, and Potter Harry — Potter starting this summer and Hogwarts starting this upcoming school year. Any questions I will answer now, but if you have none, you are dismissed."

No one moved from their spot.

"Oh?" Yamamoto mumbled, surprised. It seemed that each one of them had a question.

"Ukitake-taicho," the soutaicho began, "what is your question?"

"Sir," Ukitake began, "are we allowed to use kidō or any of the shinigami arts? And, say a hollow shows up during class or while we are with students. What do we do?"

Yamamoto thought carefully before replying. "No," he said. "The use of kidō or any of our abilities on the grounds or infront of students is not permitted. There is only one condition during which these may be used: if your or any of the students' lives are threatened. If that is all, Ukitake-taicho, Hitsugaya-taicho may ask his question.

Ukitake nodded his head, and Tōshirō proceeded to say, "Soutaicho, say one of the students were to find out about us. What do we do then?"

"Erase their memory immediately with the kikanshinki," the soutaicho replied immediately without a second thought, "but do not harm them. Abarai-fukutaicho, what is it you wish to ask?"

"Where will we live at Hogwarts? You never mentioned that… sir." Renji sounded excited but slightly wary about the new mission.

"Dumbledore-san said that while you stayed at his school, you would be able to sleep in the school's dorms," Yamamoto answered. "Kuchiki, your question, please."

"Sir," Rukia began, "where will we get the money needed to get our supplies? Will we have to provide ourselves with money?"

"No," the soutaicho replied, "Dumbledore-san will be providing the money through a fund which sponsers 'transfer students' such as yourselves. And last, Kurosaki."

Yamamoto opened one eye and stared inquiringly at the shinigami-daiko.

Ichigo sighed, and said, "What do these 'wizards' learn exactly? Magic tricks? Hocus-pocus-alakazam?"

"No," Yamamoto's voice rumbled. "As I said earlier, they learn things from history and animal care to defensive and offensive magic. Of course, there are also many other classes you may partake in as well."

Everyone was silenced once more, and a pause filled the room. No one dared to interrupt it, until Yamamoto ordered, "You are dismissed. Report at the Main Senkaimon three days from now."

The shinigami bowed slightly and shuffled quietly out of the room. However, Yamamoto and his fukuticho remained in their office.

"Well," Ichigo said as he and Rukia began to part from the others, "that was interesting."

"Yeah…" Renji replied, seeming slightly confused. "Taicho needs me to return tothe office now, and I really need to work on paperwork since we'll be gone in three days. Ja ne."

He waved as he jogged to his division grounds. Ichigo and Rukia left as well.

"I really should get going, too," Ukitake said to Tōshirō. "I expect my division entered a state of turmoil during my absence."

Ukitake laughed cheerfully, thinking of what to expect when he entered his office.

"Wait, Ukitake-taicho," Tōshirō interrupted. "Do you really think this… this *magic* could possibly be real..?"

The jyuusanbantai taicho thought for a moment and scratched his chin. "Hmm…" he mumbled.

"Yes," Ukitake finally answered, "I do. It may seem far-fetched and too early for me to assume, but wouldn't you like to believe in magic as well, Tōshirō?"

"I suppose," Tōshirō replied. "But I won't believe it until I see it for myself. Being cautious won't hurt."

Ukitake nodded, cheerfully waved, and called out, "Ja ne, Shiro-chan!" before walking away.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho," Tōshirō mumbled crossly under his breath. He frowned and crossed his arms, but nonetheless made his way back to his division.

This was going to be a long year.

(1) Some of you may think that Matsumoto has red or auburn hair, but on the official book jacket for the COLORBLEACH guide, Matsumoto is shown as a blonde with blue eyes.

(2) Remember, this is being addressed from Great Britain, so they are using the English translations.

Translations:

daiko - substitute

fukutaicho - vice captain/lieutenant

ichibantai - first division

ja ne - goodbye (informal)

jyuubantai - tenth division

jyuusanbantai - thirteenth division

matte - wait

nani - what

rokubantai - sixth division

sake - rice wine/alcohol

shinigami - death god

soutaicho - head captain

taicho - captain

Well, that was a short chappie… And way overdue, too… ( T ^ T ) Gomen nasai! ( T ^ T )

I guess I'm fine with this chapter, I just think it's too short… It's not my opinion that matters, though, it's yours! So please leave a review and tell me what you think so far! m(_ _)m

Oh, and this chapter wasn't beta'd.

I've decided to leave the older chappies 2-7 up for your enjoyment, but they will be deleted when the new chappies 2-7 get posted. Just an FYI! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

Anyway, please leave a review! It really makes my day and motivates me to hurry up and finish the new chappies! Thanks again! ありがとうございます! (=´∀｀)人(´∀｀=)

~Indigo


	2. Diagon Alley

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Thank you SO MUCH for staying dedicated to this fic! =)

Nuthin' much to say this time, but please check out the A/N at the end of this chappie!

Death at Hogwarts's Doors

Chapter 2 Rewrite

by fayfan

Three days after the mission briefing…

Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Tōshirō, and Jūshirō met up at the main Senkaimon in the Seireitei at approximately three o'clock P.M. They had about five hours to do their shopping, since they wanted to be back at their respective lodging places by eight o'clock P.M.

Each shinigami was in a gigai, wearing clothes appropriate for the world of the living.

Jūshirō wore khaki pants and an aquamarine polo. His shoes were brown oxfords. He was also wearing a watch that had the kanji for '13' engraved onto its face.

Tōshirō wore a pair of cargo pants and a black muscle shirt with the kanji for '10' on the back. He was wearing a pair of Vans for shoes — he liked how they elevated his height and made him appear slightly taller — and a black sweatband on his wrist. The kanji for '10' was stitched onto that as well.

Rukia wore a yellow sun-dress that fell to her knees. It became wavy from below her hips, and a white short-sleeved jacket completed her outfit. She wore a pair of white sandals for her shoes.

Renji wore a pair of white basketball shorts and a tight maroon muscle shirt. He wore a pair of basketball shoes as well and used a white bandana to cover up the tattoos on his forehead.

Ichigo wore a pair of jeans, and his shirt was a forest green T-shirt that appeared to have a white long-sleeved shirt inside of it. He wore tennis shoes, with a sports watch to complete his outfit.

"Before we go, I have something to give you," Jūshirō started. "Ichigo, these are the answers to your question about the language barrier."

The jyuusanbantai-taicho pulled out five rings, each a different color. Each ring had a rim of silver, while the rest of the ring was made of gemstone. There was a red ring, an orange ring, a midnight-blue ring, an ice-blue ring, and a white ring(1).

"These rings will allow you to understand and speak both English and Japanese when worn," Ukitake explained. "There's a ring for each of us. Here you go!"

The red ring was handed to Renji, the orange ring to Ichigo, the midnight-blue ring to Rukia, and the ice-blue ring to Tōshirō. Jūshirō kept the white ring for himself.

"So, as long as we're wearing these, we'll be able to speak English?" Ichigo asked. He was fingering the ring carefully.

"Yes," the jyuusanbantai taicho answered. "And in case you're wondering, these *are* real gemstone. The soutaicho himself said that if any of you damage one of these — myself included — you will have to pay the full cost for replacing the ring."

Jūshirō smiled innocently, while the others groaned. "Cheapskate," Ichigo mumbled under his breath. "I would expect Urahara to be like this, but Yamamoto..?"

Nevertheless, the shinigami twisted the rings onto their fingers. They were about to ask the guards to open the Senkaimon, but were stopped again by Jūshirō.

"Wait one moment," he said. "There's something else I have to give each of you..." The taicho reached into one of his pockets and pulled out four small sacks and one slightly larger sack. They appeared to carry something heavy.

"These are bags containing some of the wizarding world's currency," Ukitake began, "I have one for each of you and one for myself. The soutaicho's friend Dumbledore Albus — who is also headmaster of Hogwarts and the one who requested this mission — was kind enough to supply us with them. The wizarding currency consists of coins called Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons. This is a Knut—"

The taicho pulled a small copper coin out of the large bag.

"—this is a Sickle—"

He then pulled out a medium-sized silver coin.

"—and this is a Galleon."

Lastly, he pulled out a large gold coin.

Ukitake cleared his throat softly before continuing. "There are 29 Knuts to a Sickle and 17 Sickles to a Galleon, which means that there are also 493 Knuts to a Galleon. As you can tell, the Knut is worth the lowest amount, while the Galleon is worth the highest. All the wizarding locations in England use this currency, so you don't have to worry about exchanging it. Do you get what I'm saying so far?"

The other shinigami nodded.

"Great. Now, these bags of money are for you and for whatever personal interests you may want to spend them on. I will pay for your robes and other supplies, so you don't have to spend these anytime soon."

Ukitake then handed out the small bags and kept the larger one for himself.

"Each of your bags contains ten Galleons for you to spend this whole year," Jūshirō continued. "You won't be getting any more money, so spend it wisely!"

The shinigami nodded, and looked inside their sacks.

"Correct me if I'm wrong..." Ichigo began suddenly, still peering inside his sack, "We can spend this on whatever we want and we don't have to pay for our school supplies?"

"Yes," the taicho confirmed, "That's what this sack—"

He gestured to his larger sack

"—is for — paying for your supplies and whatever else we might need."

"Yes!" Ichigo cried as he and Renji pumped their fists into the air. They made a high five afterward.

"But taicho," Rukia suddenly said, "will you have money for yourself?"

"Yes, I will!" Ukitake replied, "Don't worry about me, just have fun. Come on, let's go!"

As soon as the sacks of money were put away safely, Ukitake asked the guards to open the Senkaimon. They complied, and the age-old doors creaked open.

"Well, here we go!" Jūshirō exclaimed. "Ladies first!" He looked at Rukia, who nodded and stepped through the Senkaimon — a jigokuchō trailing lazily behind her.

"Your turn, Abarai-kun, Kurosaki-kun!" the taicho continued. The two walked through the Senkaimon, two jigokuchō following them as well.

"And we're last!" Jūshirō finished. Only he and Tōshirō were left. They summoned two jigokuchō, and entered the Senkaimon. The doors could be heard closing shut as they made their way through.

In an alleyway beside the Leaky Cauldron...

A bright light flashed as a rice paper door appeared suddenly in the abandoned alley. The door slid open, and five people stepped out.

"Well, here we are!" Ukitake exclaimed. "If we arrived at our correct destination, we should be in an alleyway beside a wizarding pub called the Leaky Cauldron..."

"A pub?" Renji said. "Well then, we might as well get a drink or two while we're at it! Sure, strawberry here—"

"Oi!"

"—isn't old enough to drink, but hey! There's a first time for everything!"

Renji was grinning smugly, and Ichigo looked like he wanted to do nothing but hit the fukutaicho.

"Sorry, Abarai-kun," Jūshirō said. "We are here to buy school supplies, not to drink. Come on, let's get out of this place."

The shinigami stepped out of the alleyway and surveyed their surroundings. They were in an abandoned street lined by old, abandoned shops.

"Yes, we've arrived at our destination!" Ukitake said. "Now they said to look at the store to our right and that should be the one."

The shinigami looked at the store to their right, and it was just as abandoned as the others. It was dusty and was filled with many cobwebs.

"Taicho, are you sure that this is the right spot..?" Rukia asked nervously, "It's uninhabited all around — there aren't even any homeless people!"

"Yes, this is it." her taicho replied. "The wizards put different barriers around this pub — barriers that shouldn't allow us to see, hear, or smell the actual pub until we are inside."

"But is it the same with all of their other locations?" Hitsugaya asked, raising an eyebrow. It would be rather hard to hide an entire population from the rest of the world, after all.

"Yes," Ukitake said, "they have a variety of different barriers protecting their locations. Barriers that somehow make their intruders want to leave by drawing them away to some other place or problem. Anyway, let's go inside! We still have quite a bit of shopping to do, after all."

The shinigami walked over to the front door, and Jūshirō opened it. He held it open as they walked inside, only to be greeted by a place almost as dirty as the illusion.

"Now I see why they call this place the 'Leaky Cauldron'," Renji whispered to Ichigo. Thankfully, no one but the shinigami heard this. However, they couldn't do anything but agree with the fukutaicho.

The inside of the Leaky Cauldron was dim and damp and full of cobwebs. It was rather depressing. There weren't many people inside, but those who were wore long, black robes. Most of them wore hats, and they turned to face the door when the shinigami entered.

Jūshirō closed the door and surveyed his surroundings. The people who had glanced at them had returned their attention to whatever they had been doing before. However, one man standing behind a counter walked towards them.

"Hello, and welcome to the Leaky Cauldron!" the man said. "The name's Tom, and I'm the owner of this establishment. Who, may I ask, are you?"

Tom was an old, worn-looking man with untamed gray hair and a toothless smile. He was wearing clothes that the ichibantai fukutaicho Sasakibe might wear.

"Hello! My name is Jūshirō!" Ukitake said cheerfully. "The others are my... children..! We come from Japan, so I am sorry if we were rude in any way. Please introduce yourselves!" He looked toward the other shinigami with a 'don't spoil the act' look in his eye. Thankfully, they understood.

"Hello! My name is Rukia!" Rukia said. She made a slight bow and smiled at Tom.

"I'm Renji," Renji said as he nodded in the bartender's direction.

"I'm Ichigo," Ichigo said, nodding as Renji had.

"My name is Tōshirō, but please, call me Hitsugaya," Tōshirō finished, bowing slightly.

"Oh, what polite children!" Tom exclaimed. "So, what business do you have here in England?"

"Well, my children are coming to your school 'Hogwarts' as transfer students, and I am coming as a transfer teacher," Ukitake explained. "We came to the Leaky Cauldron to go to Diagon Alley, but I'm not exactly sure how to get there. Would you mind showing us the way?"

"Oh, transfer students..! We haven't had one of those in decades..." Tom said, pausing at the end. "And sure, I wouldn't mind at all! It's right this way! Not very far. Come come!"

Tom gestured to the shinigami to follow him, and they did. He led them to a door near the back of the pub, opened it, and led the shinigami outside. They were met by a a chilly little courtyard surrounded by brick walls.

"Are you sure this is Diagon Alley, Tom-san?" Ichigo asked. The shinigami-daiko was beginning to second-guess this man's sanity.

"This isn't it—" Tom said. He pulled out a stick — which the shinigami presumed was his wand — and tapped a certain brick. And suddenly, to the shinigamis' astonishment, the wall began creaking and groaning and just folded away! "—but this is!"

From behind the brick wall was revealed a large, lively alley full of stores and people. The people were of all ages and wore robes and hats of all shades — some of them even changing color. The stores were of just as much variety.

"Sugoi..!" Rukia mumbled. Ichigo and Renji's mouths were open, and Tōshirō's eyebrows were raised to their highest point. Jūshirō was wearing the same expression as Tōshirō, but with a slightly open mouth.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley!" Tom said.

Two hours, forty-seven minutes, and fifty-two seconds later...

"I still don't understand why we have to pretend to be family of all things... Family! We couldn't be more different..!"

Tōshirō had been fuming about how they had to pretend to be a family for the past two hours, forty minutes, and thirty-six seconds. He wasn't usually one to complain, but this was an exception.

"Cheer up, Tōshirō!" Ichigo said in response. "Your onii-sans Renji and Ichigo will be here for you!" He winked.

Since the shinigami weren't allowed to use their abilities, Tōshirō could attack neither Ichigo nor Renji, thus allowing them to make whatever snide comment they wanted.

"Uruse, Kurosaki!" Tōshirō growled back. By now, the taicho was glaring daggers.

"Aww, Tōshirō," Renji taunted, "it's rude to say such inappropriate language to your elders! And don't get cranky, we have just three more shops to go!"

Both Renji and Ichigo were wearing satisfied smirks. Tōshirō continued to glare at them, and his reiatsu even caused some cold air to blow down the alley. The shinigami shivered.

"Abarai-kun, Kurosaki-kun, that's enough," Ukitake closed the argument, his breath coming out as mist. "No need to spoil a perfectly fine day."

The shinigami had finished their shopping at Flourish and Blotts, where they had gotten textbooks for their current year and some others from previous years to help them practice magic. They had also gone to the Apothecary, where they had purchased their potions supplies. After the Apothecary, they went to another store where they purchased their quills, parchment, and other writing and stationary necessaries. They had made a stop at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour as well, where Jūshirō treated them all, much to Tōshirō's chagrin.

The last three stores they had to visit were the robes shop, the wand shop, and the pet shop. They had decided to visit the pet shop last because none of them wanted to lug around an animal for very long.

"I think we're here," Rukia said, stopping in front of a store that said 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions'. "Well, let's go inside!"

As soon as the shinigami entered the store, they were greeted by a squat witch wearing mauve robes.

"Hello, my name is Madam Malkin!" she said.

Her store was full to the brim with robes and hats of all color, shape, design, and size.

"Whoa," Renji mumbled, slightly overwhelmed, "I never knew you could store so many clothes in one place..." Ichigo nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, if Matsumoto were here," Tōshirō said, "she would burn this place off the face of the planet on the excuse of, 'it lacked fashion.'"

Thankfully, Madam Malkin didn't hear this comment, as she was attending to a dull needle.

"Welcome, and are you looking for a new or used set of robes today?" the witch asked Ukitake after she disposed of the needle.

"New, please!" he replied. "We need three pairs of plain black work robes, one black winter cloak, a hat, and a set of dragonhide gloves for each child and for me if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course!" Madam Malkin replied. "Are your children first years? You—" she turned toward Ichigo and Renji "—look a tad too old to be first years..."

"No ma'am," Rukia answered. "We're all fifth years. We're actually transfer students from Japan. Our dad is going to be a transfer teacher at Hogwarts."

"Oh! That explains it!" Madam Malkin said. "But we haven't had transfer students in... decades... Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long!"

"Tom-san said the same thing," Tōshirō added in. "Is it really that rare of an occurrence?"

"Why, yes dearie!" Madam Malkin plastered a cheesy grin on her face when she saw Tōshirō. "Are you in your first year?"

"No, ma'am..." Hitsugaya replied, trying to keep his anger in check. However, the room did drop a few degrees in temperature. "As my... sister... said earlier, I am a fifth year as well."

"Oh," Madam Malkin replied, deflating. "Well, might as well get your measurements then!"

When the shinigami left that store one hour and four minutes later, nothing was damaged (surprisingly) but the pride of a certain jyuubantai taicho.

"I am never going back there again," Hitsugaya mumbled.

Back in the shop, he had requested a pair of non-dragonhide gloves, as not to offend Hyōrinmaru, but that had led into a large argument between himself and Madam Malkin on the rights of dragons.

"Freaking sadist, that woman," Tōshirō growled.

"Tōshirō-kun, you can calm down," Ukitake said in a very father-like manner. "If things go well, we won't have to go there again."

Tōshirō just 'humph'ed and folded his arms, causing Ichigo and Renji to laugh and Rukia to hit them on the head.

"Ittai..!" the two victims groaned.

"Calm down, everyone!" Jūshirō said, chuckling. "And we're here at the wand shop! Come on, let's go inside."

The wand shop appeared to be just as dirty as the Leaky Cauldron, if not more so. It was narrow and shabby, with a sign hanging over the door that read 'Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC' in peeling, gold letters.

"...That makes me feel old..." Ukitake said. He looked slightly disgruntled.

"Are you really that old?" Ichigo asked, surprised. "You can't be that old... can you?"

"Yes, I am," Jūshirō sighed. "I was around before Yamamoto-sensei founded the Academy, after all."

"Wow," Ichigo said, "I never realized..." The shinigami-daiko suddenly wondered what he would look like when he was more than two thousand years old.

After glancing at the sign one last time, Ichigo opened the door and held it open for the shinigami.

When they entered the store, a bell on the door rang, alerting the owner of their presence. It had been no more that a few moments until a pale-eyed, white-haired old man appeared.

"Hello, and welcome to Ollivanders!" the man greeted them. "I am Ollivander, and by your entrance into my shop I am guessing that you are here to buy a wand?"

"Yes," Jūshirō said. "I need five wands — one for me and for each of my children."

The jyuusanbantai taicho gestured to the others as Ollivander walked up to them. The store owner was getting much too close for Tōshiro's comfort, so the taicho backed away slowly.

"What an... abstract... bunch you have here..!" Ollivander continued. "Are you here to replace a wand or to buy your first?"

"We're here to buy our first," Ukitake explained. "You see, we're from Japan. And from where we come from, wands aren't used."

"Ah, impressive," Ollivander said. "Well then, let's get measuring, shall we?"

He snapped, and a tape measure zoomed through the air to float by it's owner.

"You're first!" Ollivander exclaimed happily, reinvading Tōshiro's private space and grabbing his arm.

Tōshirō was pulled to the center of the room, where the tape measure floated over to him and measured random parts of his body — his bang, the height of his hair, and the width of his eyes.

"Wand arm out, please!" Ollivander instructed.

Tōshirō held out his right arm — his writing arm — immediately assuming that was what the store owner meant. The tape measure flew by his arm and measured it, holding the length for Ollivander to see.

"Hmm..." Ollivander mumbled. He walked over to a wall covered with shelves, each shelf containing many stacks of boxes. He reached into one shelf and removed five boxes.

"I'm afraid those boxes are going to fall onto Olivander-san," Rukia quietly whispered to Ukitake. She glanced nervously in the wandmaker's direction.

"They won't," Ukitake reassured her just as quietly. "I'm sure that he has experience dealing with these things..."

Ollivander walked back to Tōshirō and opened the first box. He carefully removed its contents — a wand — and handed the wand to Tōshirō.

"Here you go!" Ollivander said cheerfully, "Thirteen inches, Beech, phoenix feather. Springy."

Not knowing half of what Ollivander meant, Tōshirō raised the wand into the air. The other shinigami watched closely as he attempted to swing it down in a slashing motion. However, the wand was snatched away before he could even finish the swing.

Hitsugaya looked confused, but all Ollivander said before handing him another wand was, "The wand chooses the wizard, you know."

Tōshirō took the wand as Ollivander said, "Twelve and a half inches, Pine, unicorn hair."

Tōshirō swung the wand, and nothing happened for a few moments. However, much to the shinigamis' astonishment, the ceiling light suddenly crashed to the ground — three inches away from Ichigo.

The shinigami-daiko jumped back with a low whistle. "Gosh Tōshirō," he said. "I knew you didn't like me, but you didn't have to take it that far!"

"Gomen," Tōshirō apologized. "And it's Hitsugaya to you, Kurosaki!"

The taicho then turned to Ollivander and bowed, saying, "Gomennasai. I'm very sorry. How can I repay you for breaking your light—" Hitsugaya looked up "—and your ceiling?"

"Oh, don't worry!" Ollivander brushed it off. "You're trying out wands, it's to be expected! And it's better than the time one poor child accidentally burned my eyebrows off! A light and ceiling can be easily repaired, but eyebrows take weeks to grow back!"

"Arigatou," Tōshirō thanked him, bowing again.

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Ollivander replied. He then pulled his own wand out of one of his back pockets, and muttered, "Repairo." After the word was muttered, the light flew back up to the ceiling and reattached itself as the ceiling closed back together.

The shinigami remained silent throughout the spell, acting like what had occurred was completely normal, but were secretly amazed.

"I really need to learn that spell," Tōshirō and Jūshirō thought at the same time. "It could reduce my division's repair costs by at least half."

Ollivander took back the wand Tōshirō was holding and switched it again.

"Twelve and three-quarters inches, Birch, dragon heartstring. Great for Transfiguration," the store owner continued. He looked rather excited.

Tōshirō swung the wand in a sweeping motion, and not a moment after, the lights went out.

"Well then," the shinigami heard Ollivander say through the dark, "I think we're almost there!"

A swish was heard cutting through the air, and the lights turned back on.

"There we go!" the shop keeper exclaimed. "Hmm... Let's see..."

Ollivander walked back to the wall covered with boxes and pulled out another wand box.

"Let's try this one," Ollivander said to Tōshirō. "I have a good feeling about this wand..!"

He opened the box, removed the wand, and handed it to Hitsugaya.

"Twelve and three-quarters inches, Elm, dragon heartstring," Ollivander said. "A rather unusual combination, but definitely powerful."

Hitsugaya took the wand, looked at it for a moment, and made a diagonal slashing motion through the air with it.

Not a moment after, the room started snowing.

"That's it! That's your wand!" Ollivander exclaimed excitedly.

Tōshirō looked around, smirking. He seemed impressed.

"Is this alright with you, Hyōrinmaru?" Tōshirō projected into the most inner reaches of his mind.

Hyōrinmaru awoke within the taicho's mind, a cold presence surrounding him, and said, "An inanimate object will never replace me, but if it is necessary for the mission, I will give you my consent."

"Arigatou," Tōshirō mumbled back, closing his eyes.

Ollivander handed the wand's box to Hitsugaya, and the shinigami leaned in closer to the taicho to examine his new wand.

It was of the palest shade if wood with a thin, crystal ice-blue ring separating the handle from the shaft. No other markings were visible aside from the ring.

"Now, who's next?" Ollivander said, interrupting the shinigami from their thoughts.

"Well, I guess I might as well get it over wi—" "I will!" Rukia interrupted Ichigo as he was about to volunteer himself. Ichigo glared at her, but she was unfazed.

Rukia walked up to where Tōshirō had been standing previously, and waited patiently as Ollivander's tape measure measured random parts of her body.

"Wand arm out, please!" Ollivander instructed.

Rukia held out her right arm as the tape measure zoomed over to it and measured it. Once again, it held the length for Ollivander to see.

"Hmm..." the wandmaker mumbled thoughtfully. He walked over to his wall covered with shelves, and removed three boxes from their stacks. One of the piles tilted over precariously, but thankfully didn't fall over.

Olivander opened the first box and removed its wand. He handed the wand to Rukia and said, "Twelve and a half inches, Vine, phoenix feather."

Rukia swung it, and one of the store's front windows shattered.

"Gomen!" Rukia squeaked reflexively. Apologizing became a reflex after living with the Kuchiki household for many years. You just couldn't stop the inevitable.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Ollivander said. He waved his wand, muttering, "Repairo," and the shattered pieces of glass reassembled themselves and fixed any cracks.

Ollivander took the wand back from Rukia and replaced it in its box. He then opened another box, removed its wand, and gave it to Rukia.

"Twelve and one quarter inches, Birch, dragon heartstring. Stiff," the store owner said.

Rukia made a stabbing motion with the wand, and what happened next was probably the worst possible effect of all.

Much to everyone's surprise and horror, the boxes in the shelves on the wall suddenly tumbled down. And, unluckily for Tōshirō (who was having a discussion with Hyōrinmaru at the time), the boxes just so happened to fall on top of him.

"Hitsugaya-taicho!" Rukia shrieked. She ran over to the boxes and started digging through them. Ukitake joined her not a moment later, but Ichigo and Renji could do nothing due to the fact that they were laughing so hard.

Suddenly, a white head of hair burst through the boxes. Tōshiro's face soon followed. Tōshirō took a huge gulp of air and said, "Kuchiki, if you do that again..."

"Gomennasai Hitsugaya-taicho!" Rukia apologized profusely, bowing deeply. She looked like she was about to faint. (Note that Renji and Ichigo are still laughing in the background and surprisingly haven't suffocated yet.)

A quiet "Repairo," interrupted their conversation as stray wands flew back into their boxes and the boxes stacked up against the walls. Hitsugaya stood back up, but moved away when Ukitake tried to brush off the multitude of dust that had accumulated on him.

"Well then!" Ollivander said, looking slightly disheveled. "Let's try this last wand out for size!" He took Rukia's wand back and laid it in its box.

The wandmaker then opened the last box, handed its wand to Rukia, and said, "Eleven and three-quarters inches, Birch, unicorn hair."

The shinigami braced themselves for another disaster, but were pleasantly surprised when the room was filled with a soft, white glow emitting from the tip of Rukia's wand.

"Perfect!" Ollivander exclaimed happily. He looked quite relieved that nothing else was destroyed. He handed Rukia her wand's box and walked away to put up the other wands.

Rukia's wand was very similar to Toshiro's. It was of the palest shade of wood, only a few shades away from white. A handle was not distinguishable, but a small white opal adorned the thicker end of her wand.

"Do you like it, Sode no Shirayuki?" Rukia asked her zanpakutō.

"It is adequate," the zanpakutō replied. "It will do for now." She didn't sound happy, but she didn't sound displeased either. Rukia sighed in relief.

After stacking the extra wands back against the wall, Ollivander walked back to the shinigami and asked, "Who's next?"

"I'll go—" "It's my turn!" Ichigo was interrupted yet again, but this time by Renji. The red-head was smirking as Ichigo said, "Screw you."

Renji took Rukia's place at the center of the room and held his right arm out, already knowing what to expect.

The tape measure zoomed over to Renji and measured his arm's length. It held the measurement for Ollivander to see as the wandmaker retrieved a single box from the shelves.

"I have a hunch that this might be your wand," Ollivander said. "It's a rare combination, but it seems to fit you for some reason."

Ollivander opened the box and gave Renji its wand. "Thirteen and three-quarters inches, Rowan, phoenix feather," the store owner said.

Renji took the wand and swung it in the air. Soon after, the entire length of the fukutaicho's wand glowed red.

"Great! I knew it would choose you." Ollivander exclaimed. "Now, here you go." He handed Renji his wand's box.

Renji's wand had a pale brown shaft with a deep red handle. The handle stuck out slightly from the wand and appeared to curl around the shaft.

"You like?" Renji asked Zabimaru.

"Whatever," Zabimaru replied, "Just don't even consider it a replacement for me and I will be fine."

"Pssht. A stick of wood could never replace a zanpakutō," Renji said back.

"Agreed," Zabimaru closed the converstaion as it returned to the back of Renji's mind.

Renji walked back to the shinigami and stood beside Ichigo. "You always were dense and easy to read," Ichigo taunted.

"Uruse!" Renji growled in reply, looking away.

"Well then, I guess I'm next," Ichigo said before Ollivander even had the chance to ask. He walked to the center of the room and stuck his right arm out as Renji had.

The tape measure flew over to Ichigo, measured his arm, and showed the length to Ollivander.

"Hmm..." the wandmaker mumbled as he took four boxes from the wall. Ollivander opened the first box, removed its wand, handed it to Ichigo, and said, "Fourteen and one-quarter inches, Oak, phoenix feather."

Ichigo took the wand and waved it in the air. Nothing happened. The shinigami and Ollivander waited a few moments more, but the room stayed safe and silent.

"Well, that's not it. A bit too weak for you," Ollivander said, replacing the wand in its box. He opened the second box and handed its wand to Ichigo.

"Thirteen and a half inches, Elder, dragon heartstring. Somewhat temperamental," Ollivander said.

Ichigo took the wand and made a stabbing motion with it. Immediately, a heavy rain filled the store — it left nothing dry.

"A bit too *strong*," Ollivander squeaked, waving his wand. The rain stopped, and everything that had been wet became dry.

Ollivander took the wand from Ichigo and gingerly placed it back in its box. He then removed a third wand from a different box and handed it to Ichigo.

"Fourteen and three-quarters inches, Maple, unicorn hair," Ollivander said.

Ichigo lifted the wand into the air, but Ollivander snatched it back and laid it back in its box.

"One more wand to try," Ollivander mumbled. He took the last box, opened it, and removed the wand inside.

Ollivander handed it to Ichigo and said, "Fifteen inches, Ebony, dragon heartstring. This wand is exceptional at both defensive and attack magic, but lacks finesse."

Ichigo took the wand and grasped it firmly. He hesitated for a moment before swinging it.

As soon as Ichigo had swung the wand, it glowed a deep red and began to emit black sparks from its tip. The sparks bounced off anything and anyone, but were harmless, much to the shinigami's surprise.

"Woah," Ichigo mumbled as he clutched his newfound source of power. "Interesting," Ollivander said soon after.

The wandmaker handed Ichigo his wand's box and said, "It's funny how this wand chose you. I actually bought this wand's wood from a very pricey dealer. He said it came from Japan, and that it was taken from the darkest Ebony tree in the entire country. I could only afford enough wood to make one wand at the time, and I find it rather curious how a wand who had its roots in Japan choose a Japanese wizard. Maybe the fact that you are Japanese helped the wand to choose you. Maybe it wanted to serve a wizard with the same origins as itself. These are the things that make wandmaking both a mystery and an adventure."

Ichigo nodded and put the wand in its box. Upon a closer examination, the wand was very dark — almost jet black — and felt smoother than what seemed possible. It was very streamlined, and bore no markings that would ruin its perfect symmetry.

"Wat'cha got there, King?" Ichigo's inner hollow interrupted his thoughts.

"Nothing, now get out!" Ichigo ordered back.

"Fine, fine. Yeesh. You don't have to be so demanding, you know," Hichigo(2) replied. "I bet'cha Hiyori and Shinji don't treat their hollows this way. In fact, I—"

"Just shut up and go away," Ichigo growled back. "I don't need any of your b.s. today."

"Whatever you say, King," the hollow said. "Oh, and by the way, the old man said he doesn't care whether you use the wand or not. 'Kay? But I honestly think you should ditch it. All this magic crap is a load of bullshit."

By then, Ichigo had just stopped listening and brought his attention to Jūshirō, who was trying out wands for himself.

"Wand arm out!" Ollivander instructed. Jūshirō held out his right arm as the tape measure measured it. It then flew back to Ollivander and showed him the length.

"Hmm... Maybe these will do..." Ollivander mumbled as he pulled three boxes from their places on the shelves.

The wandmaker handed Ukitake the first box's wand, and described it as, "Twelve inches, Apple, phoenix feather." The taicho took it and swung it in the air.

Not a moment after Jūshirō swung the wand, a cold, strong wind blew through the store. It left as quickly as it came, but not without doing some damage.

Jūshirō, Rukia, and Ollivander's hair was left ruffled and messed up — Rukia's hair even stood up straight and tall, much like a hedgehog. Wand boxes were strewn everywhere, but were soon placed back in their correct locations by a wave of Ollivander's wand.

As soon as Ichigo and Renji saw Rukia, they began laughing. "Hahaha! Your hair!" they said between loud bouts of laughter. They and Hitsugaya's hair had not been affected due to the fact that it had either been tied up, or already messy and gravity-defying.

"Uruse," Rukia said back, blushing, as she fixed her hair.

Jūshirō walked over to where Ichigo and Renji were standing and said, "Now now, that's enough." The two shinigami finally stopped laughing, but playful smirks remained on their faces.

"Well, I don't think that was the right wand," Ukitake said, walking back to Ollivander. He looked rather disheveled with his long, white hair tangled and sticking up in places.

"I completely agree," Ollivander replied, opening another wand box. He gave Jūshirō a moment to fix his hair before handing him the wand and saying, "Thirteen and a half inches, Fir, unicorn hair."

Ukitake swung the wand. A few seconds later, the store was filled with a light, calming drizzle. A double rainbow even formed over the shinigami and Ollivander's heads.

"Woah..." Ichigo and Renji mumbled. "Double rainbow all the way..!"

"Very nice!" Ollivander exclaimed as he handed Ukitake his new wand's box. The taicho's wand's shaft was a deep shade of brown. The handle was an even deeper shade of brown, and was adorned with wave-like grooves as well.

"I think it's nice!" Jūshirō thought to his zanpakutō. He glanced at the wand once more before replacing it in its box.

"It's nice! It's nice!" Sōgyō no Kotowari cheerfully echoed back. Jūshirō could almost see the grins that filled his twin zanpakutōs' faces.

"That is all, if I am correct," Ollivander said. He replaced the unused wands back on their shelves, and waved his own wand to stop the drizzle. However, the double rainbow remained.

Ukitake nodded. Where they were standing, Ichigo and Renji exclaimed, "It's starting to look like a triple rainbow!" Their eyes were practically sparkling, until Rukia hit them both on the head.

"Well then, that will be fifty-seven galleons!" Ollivander said, walking over to a cash register. Jūshirō reached into his bag of money and pulled out the said amount. He paid the wandmaker, and bowed.

"Thank you for helping us, Ollivander-san," the jyuusanbantai taicho said. He glanced toward his temporary 'children'. They bowed as well.

"Oh, anytime! Anytime!" Ollivander replied, smiling.

The other shinigami thanked him, and they exited the wand shop. Now they had all their supplies, and just needed an animal.

"So, I guess the last place we have to go is the pet shop..." Ichigo said, frowning. "Great."

The shinigami daiko didn't exactly do very well with animals. Ever since he had to babysit Yuzu's gerbil that one time... Well, let's just say it didn't turn out pretty. And Kon being a stuffed animal didn't help, either.

"Yes," Ukitake replied. "Why the long face, Ichigo-kun?"

"Because they don't exactly get along. Am I right, Kurosaki?" Tōshirō answered for Ichigo. The jyuubantai taicho had a grimace on his face.

"Yup," Ichigo said back. "Same with you?"

"Yeah..." Hitsugaya replied. He and Hinamori had once had a similar problem involving a mouse, Matsumoto, and his office.

"Well, we're going to have to do it anyway," Renji cut into the conversation. "Since we're gonna do it, we might as well suck it up and deal with it like real men!"

The fukutaicho struck a guts pose. Ichigo looked away, and mumbled, "I don't know this guy." Tōshirō and Rukia just rolled their eyes.

"We're here!" Rukia exclaimed soon after. She looked very excited — almost like the time when her taicho had given her a giant Chappy.

The store she stood in front of had a sign labeled, "Magical Menagerie". Upon entrance to the shop, the shinigami discovered it was very noisy, smelly, and cramped with cages and animals of all varieties.

"Whoa..." Rukia said, walking over to a cage containing a white rabbit. Much to her surprise, it turned from a rabbit into a silk black top hat and back.

"Taicho! Can we get him? Please?" Rukia begged Ukitake. She was making the dreaded puppy dog face.

"Well..." Jūshirō said. He was tempted to give in. The taicho never could resist puppy dog faces... He looked toward Tōshirō, who was shaking his head; and then to Ichigo and Renji, who were shaking their heads as well.

"I'm sorry, Rukia," her taicho apologized. "We need something more practical. Something like... that!"

Jūshirō pointed to a large bird cage containing a dangerous looking falcon of some sort.

"Here in the Wizarding World, many people use birds to send letters and other messages!" Ukitake explained. "Similar to how humans used to use homing pigeons! It's perfect!"

The bird was very large — about three times the size of your average chicken. It had white feathers dotted with black specks, a menacing golden beak, and razor-sharp claws. It's eyes appeared to be glaring, its ice-blue irises staring intently at the shinigami.

"Are you sure that's the bird you want, Ukitake-san?" Ichigo asked nervously. "It doesn't exactly look very... friendly."

The bird looked directly at Ichigo, still glaring fiercely. The shinigami-daiko flinched, but sent his signature glare back. Lighting seemed to flow between their eyes.

"See, you two are getting along fine!" Jūshirō said, smiling happily. He walked over to the cage and smiled at the bird, the other shinigami following closely behind.

The bird looked at Ukitake, and immediately it's glare disappeared. It stared at the taicho as if to say, "You're not so bad... A bit oblivious, but not bad."

Rukia stepped closer to the cage and mumbled, "Well, I guess it's kind of cute..." She continued to observe the bird, smiling slightly as it ruffled its feathers. It looked at her in response, still not glaring.

"How could you think *this* is 'cute'?" Renji exclaimed, gesturing accusingly at the bird. "Look at it! It wants to kill us!"

The bird immediately began to glare again, this time directing it's anger at Renji. However, the fukutaicho didn't back down, and instead pointed to an owl.

"See, why don't we get an owl?" Renji suggested. "They're smaller, quieter, and they don't glare!"

"Sorry, Abarai-kun, but we need to get this falcon! Doesn't he look so lonely, cooped up in that cage by himself? What he needs is a loving, caring home!" Ukitake exclaimed.

The taicho was still smiling broadly while looking at the falcon when he said this. Rukia stood next to her captain and followed suit.

"Ukitake-taicho, I think we should carefully consider whether this bird is the right animal for—" Tōshirō objected to buying the bird, but gave up when Ukitake called over a cashier to discuss the the process of animal adoption.

"You would like to buy this bird?" the cashier asked Jūshirō. "It's been here for a while due to its bad attitude — no one's ever wanted to adopt it. Are you sure that you want it?"

"Yes ma'am!" Jūshirō replied. "What do I have to do to adopt it... say, right now?" He glanced at the bird, and then redirected his attention to the cashier.

"Well," the cashier began, "you just have to sign some papers verifying that you're a legal adult and that you want to buy this bird, buy any supplies you need, retrieve the animal, and you're done. I can show you the supplies you need, if you want."

"That would be appreciated!" Ukitake replied. "I guess we'll adopt this bird—"

This statement was met with depressed looks from three certain shinigami, and an excited look from the other.

"—so would you mind showing me the papers, and the supplies as well?"

"Sure thing!" the cashier replied. "I'm sure he's ready to get out of here. Just follow me..."

Ukitake nodded, and told the other shinigami, "You can walk around this store, but don't leave, and stay out of trouble."

Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, and Tōshirō nodded.

"Well then, let's meet back here in, oh, ten minutes, okay?" Ukitake bid them farewell, and followed the cashier.

"Well then, where do you want to go?" Ichigo asked the remaining shinigami.

"I saw more bunnies over there," Rukia gestured to their left. "It looked like they were changing colors. They were so cute! I'm going to check them out, okay? Ja ne!"

Rukia ran off to the bunnies, not even waiting for a reply.

"I heard some guy talkin' about rats," Renji told Ichigo and Hitsugya. "He said that they played games with their tails. They sounded pretty cool, so I'm gonna check them out."

Renji walked off, and an awkward silence formed between Ichigo and Hitsugaya.

"I think I'll join him..." Ichigo said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Ja ne, Tōshirō." The shinigami-daiko waved, and walked off.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho to you, Kurosaki," the jyuubantai taicho growled quietly, as not to attract unneeded attention to himself. Yelling about rank in public never did any good.

"Hmm... Now what?" Tōshirō thought to himself, scanning the rest of the store to look for any points of interest. However, nothing caught his eye.

"Well, you could go look around and ask if they supply dragons," Hyōrinmaru replied, slightly startling his master. "This is a magical pet shop, after all. Who knows what they have here."

"You're right," Tōshirō agreed, nodding. "I just have to find an employee... that shouldn't be too hard."

Hitsugaya walked a few steps, quickly spotting an employee. He walked over to him, and cleared his throat.

"Yes, how may I help you?" the employee asked politely. He was stacking what looked like bottomless fish tanks on a shelf.

"Sir," Tōshirō began, "does this store stock dragons?" Apparently, the employee had not expected such a question, for his mouth and eyes went from normal to wide-open.

"Dragons?" the employee replied, sounding frightened. "Of course not! I don't know of any store that would supply dragons. What in the world would you need a dragon for?"

"Oh, nothing," Hitsugaya answered, shrugging. "Just wondering." Tōshirō walked away from him, rolling his eyes at the employee's reaction.

"How naive," Hyōrinmaru grumbled within Hitsugaya's head, slightly offended. Tōshirō could practically see the puffs of steam that were bound to be shooting from the dragon's nostrils.

"Well, now what?" Tōshirō responded with a question. He could just sit around and do nothing, but that would be too unproductive, especially since he had the opportunity to explore a shop of magical pets.

"Well," Hyōrinmaru replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "you could look at those cute, fluffy kitties over there! I'm sure you would just *love* to do that..!"

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes. However, seeing as he had nothing else better to do, he walked over to the box of kittens.

"How... small..." the taicho thought as he observed the kittens. They seemed to be everywhere at once — playing with each other, then seeking the security of their mother, and then playing again.

However, there was one small, quiet kitten sitting in the corner. It was pure white, with sharp teal eyes. The kitten was being ignored by both its siblings and its mother; it appeared to be rather lonely.

"That must be the runt," Tōshirō thought. It somehow reminded him of himself and his childhood in the Rukongai.

Hitsugaya reached his hand out for the secluded kitten to smell. The chaos of the rest of the box continued as it sniffed him. It didn't shrink back, but instead looked at him defiantly.

"Hmm..." Hyōrinmaru rumbled within Tōshirō's head. "It looks like a cat version of you. A smaller, tinier you — if that's even possible."

Hitsugaya growled, "Uruse," and sent a very menacing glare back. He couldn't help that he hadn't reached his growth spurt yet!

"Well, do you want that kitten?" Tōshirō asked his zanpakutō, not that Hyōrinmaru's opinion mattered.

"No," the ice dragon answered. "It would just be a hindrance; I wouldn't see any use in adopting it."

"Well," Hitsugaya thought back, "I may not have any use for it, but Momo might like it. With the recent betrayal of that bastard Aizen, it could be a good way to keep her mind off the traitor."

"Hmm..." Hyōrinmaru's age-old voice rumbled back thoughtfully. "Your friend might like that... She likes cute things, right?"

"Yes," Tōshirō replied, "unfortunately." A flashback of a certain incident involving Momo's (former) pet gerbil crossed his mind. Let's just say that the creature had almost bitten Hitsugaya's finger off, which had resulted in its immediate expulsion from the Seireitei.

"But what would the others think?" Tōshirō contemplated. If Kurosaki and Abarai saw him adopting a fluffy white kitten, they might get the wrong idea and think he was getting it for himself.

"Since when did you care about others opinions?" Hyōrinmaru answered. "Last I checked, you didn't." Tōshirō could feel the dragon curling into a tight coil, much like a snake ready to strike its enemy.

"You're right," Hitsugaya replied. "What was I thinking? I guess I'll get it then, since I have a lot of extra money to spare."

Tōshirō looked at the kitten again, deciding that he liked the look of defiance in its eye.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Hitsugaya called over yet another employee. The woman walked over to him.

"Yes, how may I help you?" the employee replied.

"I was wondering if I could adopt this kitten here—" he gestured towards the white kitten, "—right now?"

"Hmm..." the employee thought. "Sure, but your parents have to come here to sign a few forms and complete the adoption process—"

Oh, yeah. Tōshirō had forgotten about that little problem...

"—...but since we were going to put him down soon anyway, I guess you can just pay for him and take him."

Hitsugaya sighed in relief. It's not that he had a problem with the possibility of needing Ukitake's help, it's just that he would prefer that the gift be from him, and only him.

He didn't know why he felt that way, though... Maybe he thought that sending Momo a present could help mend the bonds they shared that Aizen had severed.

"Oh, and if you don't have any supplies yet, you'll need those too," the employee continued, interrupting the taicho's thoughts. "Would you like me to show you what you'll need?"

"No thank you," Tōshirō said back. "I think I just need a carrier for him. ...It is a him, right?"

"Yes, he's a him." the worker replied, gesturing towards a stack of cages near some other cats. "And the carriers are right here."

"Thank you," Hitsugaya said, choosing a plain white carrier. "So... do you just want me to give you the money right here and now?"

"Well, let's put the little Tom(3) in his carrier first, and you can pay for both things at the cash register," the employee answered. "Are you sure you don't need anything else? No food? Or a collar?"

"Well," Tōshirō said thoughtfully. "I guess I'll need to get him some food and a collar. Would you mind bringing him over to the register while I get them?"

"Sure!" the worker said back. "If you don't know, the collars and food are over there." She gestured to an aisle to their right.

"Thank you," Hitsugaya said as he nodded slightly in her direction, walking toward the aisle with the collars as she brought his kitten to the cash register.

It didn't take long for Tōshirō to choose a collar. The taicho selected a bright teal collar that would match the kitten's eyes. He grabbed a store-brand bag of cat food as well, and made his way to the cash register.

Hitsugaya arrived at the register, and took out the bag containing his money. The taicho's kitten was already in his cage, waiting patiently for his master under the careful supervision of the employee that had been assisting him earlier.

"Here you go," Tōshirō told the employee, handing her the collar and bag of cat food.

The employee examined the price tags, mentally computing the total cost of his purchase.

"Your total is one galleon and seven sickles!" she said.

Hitsugaya reached into his money bag, pulled out the said amount, and handed the employee the cash. She accepted the amount, nodding for the young taicho to take what he bought.

"Thank you very much," Tōshirō thanked her, getting his purchases from the counter. There were quite a few things he had to carry, but years of carrying Matsumoto's shopping bags finally payed off.

The taicho walked off, weaving through aisles and around the many shoppers and cages to return to his group's designated meeting point. Though, when he had just about reached his destination, a thought crossed his mind: the cat was alive, so how was he going to get it to Momo?

Shinigami Zukan!

The shinigami exited Magical Menagerie, finally done with their shopping and the new proud owners of an arctic gyrfalcon.

"So," Ukitake began, "now we have to name this little guy! Any suggestions?"

"Zabimaru!" Renji shot out.

"Zangetsu!" Ichigo retaliated.

This argument continued for about a minute or so, until finally, Rukia broke in and said that his name was Chappy.

"Nani?" Ichigo and Renji exclaimed in unison.

However, since no one could come up with a better name ("Kawaii?" Ichigo tried, the bird glaring daggers at him), Chappy stuck. The shinigami were now proud owners of a bird named Chappy.

(1) Each of the rings is made of a different shade of sapphire. Yes, there are red, orange, ice-blue, and white sapphires. Go google it.

(2) As many of you probably know, 'Hichigo' is one of the fan names for hollow Ichigo. I will probably refer to him as such, so heads up.

(3) For those of you who don't know, a 'Tom' is a male cat.

Translations:

arigatou - thank you

daiko - substitute

fukutaicho - vice captain/lieutenant

gigai - faux body used by shinigami

gomen - I'm sorry

gomennasai - I'm very sorry

ichibantai - first division/company

ittai - ouch

ja ne - bye (informal)

jigokuchō - Hell butterfly

jyuubantai - tenth division/company

jyuusanbantai - thirteenth division/company

kawaii - cute

-kun - an honorific used for familiars, close friends, subordinates, etc.

nani - what

onii-san - big brother

-san - a polite honorific used for strangers or people you have just met; equivalent to the English Ms., Mrs., or Mr.

Senkaimon - the gate the shinigami use to go to the living world

shinigami - death god/soul reaper

soutaicho - head captain/captain commander

sugoi - amazing

taicho - captain

uruse - shut up

Yeah, I don't really like the way the wand shop part turned out. =P Gomen! And I am SO SORRY for the waaay overdue update! I was so close to finishing this chapter, and then I suddenly lost inspiration. T^T But, this chapter is pretty long, so I hope you're satisfied! I don't know when I'll update next, but I'll try to do it within my promised one-to-two-month timeframe. Please review or PM me, I need your feedback to help improve! Constructive criticism is appreciated as well. =) Thanks again for reading this, and if you do choose to review/PM me on your way out, thank you in advance! =D Not that I deserve any feedback with this late of an update... XP Oh, and by any chance, have any of you wonderful readers read Homestuck? :3

Indigo Fox signing out_


	3. Chapter 3

Wow! Seventeen reviews, follows, and favorites already! I wasn't expecting that! Thank you very much, everyone! =D

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES:

(random reviewer)

Ziya Hitsugaya

Yumi-2121331

Less than Hero

(random reviewer)

Jiyle

Yin7

Lazy Historian

GeminiAngel236

ramakrya1

RikuOfTheDesert

Mika-Mustang

Crysanth

Dhampirangel

HighKnight

articwolfes

IF I COULD I WOULD HOST YOU A PARTY FOR BEING MY FIRST REVIEWERS, FAVORITERS (IDK if that's a word X3), AND FOLLOWERS EVER IN ALL OF HISTORY! X3 Also, special thanks to Ziya Hitsugaya for being the first Fanfiction member to review to my story! Thanks again! Now, ON TO CHAPPIE 3! XD

Death at Hogwarts's Doors

Chapter 3

by Indigo (fayfan)

(A/N: Most of this chappie is going to be a little OOC, just warning you, because it's pretty much just a filler chapter.)

In Number 6 Privet Drive...

After returning home from the Dursleys' house, the shinigami went to bed immediately. They had already chosen their bedrooms (Ichigo and Renji shared a room upstairs, Rukia's room was to their right, Toshiro slept in a room downstairs, and Ukitake had the master bedroom and bathroom to himself) right before they went to the Dursleys' for dinner. None of them dreamed that night, and they all had a peaceful rest.

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The next morning, Ichigo woke up in a very strange place. It was a large bedroom, and he was sleeping on a bed that felt larger than his regular one. He rolled over and saw that he was sleeping on a different blanket than his usual, too. Renji was on another bed beside his.

"Wait, Renji? Where am I?" Ichigo thought. Realization dawned on him right then, and he remembered the previous events of the night before, and moving into Number 6 Privet Drive.

Ichigo got out of bed, got ready for the day, and even sat around for five minutes, and Renji was still asleep. Ichigo snickered, and muttered, "Lazy," under his breath. He stood up and climbed onto Renji's bed, stood up on it, and looked down upon the fuku-taicho.

"Oi! Stupid! Wake up!" Ichigo suddenly yelled. Renji immediately sat up and jumped to attention. "Wazit? Ichigo? What are yo—oh! I remember now! What'd you do that for? Bastard! I was just having a very nice dream with—wait, I'm not gonna tell you."

Ichigo smirked, and said, "Was it Rukia?" "N-no," Renji stuttered. Ichigo immediately knew that it was.

But, just then, a problem arose in that super-largely-inflated ego of his: who was going to cook? (they're only in their gigais if their around the living, but Ichigo doesn't need one)

Naturally, Ichigo freaked out, always thinking with that stomach of his, and ran out of the room to go find Rukia. Renji just stood there, a puzzled expression on his face.

Ichigo quickly found Rukia in the bathroom next to her bedroom, brushing her hair. "What is it? It's too early for this..." Rukia sighed. Ichigo then told Rukia about "the problem," ad he had dubbed it.

Since Rukia couldn't cook to save a life (or afterlife), she also realized how much trouble this problem could cause. So, she immediately ran to Ichigo and Renji's bedroom, where Renji was still standing there, confused.

She ran up to him, and whispered their dilema in his ear. Renji's eyes immediately widened, and he looked shocked. Rukia would've told her taicho about "the problem," but he was currently sick in bed and she didn't want to wake or disturb him.

Renji had tried cooking one thing in his afterlife: bacon. It turned out so badly, that Renji now stayed away from bacon after his "little experience." Let's just say it involved Renji, a now-melted frying pan, a destroyed 6th division kitchen, one angry Byakuya, and one innocent piece of bacon. Mix until well blended. (A/N: You see what I mean?)

Renji immediately ran downstairs, to Toshiro, who was just exiting his room, and told him about "the problem." After Renji told the young taicho, Toshiro didn't look startled or surprised. In fact, he looked anything but.

Toshiro sighed, and calmly told Renji, "That's no problem. I *have* to know how to cook as a taicho, and it helps get rid of Matsumoto's hangovers."

Renji just stared, and yelled, "Why didn't you tell us earlier? I thought we were gonna die!" (Because remember, shingami and large-reitatsu souls have to eat!)

Toshiro rolled his eyes, massaged his temples. If they weren't in a quiet street full of similar houses, he probably would've unsheathed Hyorinmaru and forced its wrath upon Renji, who then would be another ice sculpture to his now increasing collection.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho," Toshiro hissed, and immediately, the room dropped quite a few degrees in temperature. Renji immediately had a frightened look on his face.

Renji backed away slowly, and squeaked, "Of course, Hitsugaya-taicho!" Toshiro never *was* very calm in the mornings, and worrying about these teenage "children" didn't help much either. This was going to be *very* troublesome. He might even lose a few of his very precious brain cells.

The taicho also had to cook for a sick Ukitake and take over some of the things he had to do, like cooking, doing the dishes, getting the shinigami to work together, making schedules, practicing spells, and just keeping the peace, which decreased his patience even further. Five words summed Toshiro up: He wasn't a morning person.

The young tenth division captain walked past Renji, sent a last glare to him (which Byakuya's fuku-taicho eagerly stepped away from), and stepped into the kitchen.

He then took some eggs, a pack of bacon, and the carton of milk out of their brand-new refrigerator provided by the 12th division. Drinking milk *was* a method of helping growing children grow even more, after all, and Toshiro needed all the help he was going to get.

The tenth division's taicho then retrieved a frying pan and put it on the stove. After cracking and cooking the eggs on the pan, he poured oil over it and fried the bacon.

He was just about to place the now-finshed-and-put-on-a-plate bacon and eggs on the table, and start making some pancakes, when he heard, "Shut up, Ichigo! You'll wake up taicho!" It sounded like Rukia. Of course, Toshiro personally thought that *Rukia* would wake him up, with all of that yelling of her's.

Toshiro wondered what he should do, go there and stop their fight, or leave them alone. After less than a second of thinking, he decided to leave them alone. They would eventually work it all out, after all, or just knock themselves out trying. Literally.

~15 minutes later, at the table~

Toshiro finished cooking breakfast, set the table, and called the rest of the shinigami down to eat. A very disheveled Renji walked down, followed by a bruises and bloody Ichigo being dragged down by a very ticked-off Rukia.

"What happened?" the taicho thought, "Never mind, I don't think that I want to know."

He walked into Ukitake's room, and found the thirteenth division captain wide-awake.

"Good morning, Shiro-chan!" Ukitake greeted him. Toshiro answered with a simple, "Good morning taicho."

"I told you not to be so formal!" Ukitake then exclaimed, and Toshiro decided to ignore that comment.

Toshiro gently helped him up, and into the kitchen. He couldn't walk very far on his own after last night's experiences.

The rest of the shinigami were already seated at the table, looking half-starved and like they had just been run over by a truck. (Other than Rukia, of course. She was just grinning innocently.)

Ichigo and Renji seemed like they were about to dive in and take all the food, but right before they were about to do so, Toshiro said, "Taichos first," and served himself and Ukitake.

"Thank you, Shiro-kun!" Ukitake cheerfully thanked him.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho," Toshiro mumbled back. How many times did he have to say it?HE was a CAPTAIN!

Renji and Ichigo gaped, and said, "No fair!" but Rukia merely nodded. Toshiro smirked, and said, "When you're a captain, Kurosaki, Abarai, you can make the decisions. Right now, since we're the only captains, Ukitake-taicho and I get to do that. And, since Rukia didn't complain, she gets next pick."

Renji and Ichigo groaned, and Rukia smirked. She got just the right amount of what she needed to keep a healthy constitution, and left the rest for Ichigo and Renji. All that was left on the plates were a little bit of eggs, one piece of bacon (which Ichigo was going to get, since Renji didn't eat bacon anymore), and two pancakes.

The two "idiots" (as Rukia had dubbed them) took the rest of the food, and shoved it into their mouths, all at once.

"They look like starved hyenas," Toshiro whispered into Ukitake's ear, and the taicho laughed. Renji and Ichigo just stared, confused, back at them, and shrugged.

This caused Ukitake to laugh even more, and even cough a bit. Toshiro rubbed his back, and he stopped coughing. The two troublemakers (Ichigo and Renji if you hadn't already picked up on that) were about to leave the table, when Toshiro said, "Stay here, I need need to tell you today's schedule."

Renji and Ichigo sat back down, and listened. "Today, we are going to practice spells," the young taicho started, "Once everyone is finished eating, we'll go to the upstairs living room to practice. I'll be there to supervise you, but at the same time be practicing with you."

Ukitake agreed, "Great idea, Shi—" but was interrupted by Rukia when she said, "Taicho, you will stay in bed and nothing else! Don't worry, with Hitsugaya-taicho here, we probably won't burn down the house, (A/N: *cough*probably*cough*) but you need your rest! And if you get out of bed, I'll tie you down with Kido!"

"But—!" Ukitake desperately said, knowing what would happen if he defied Rukia, even though he was her taicho, and Rukia replied with, "No buts!" It seemed like everyone was always against Ukiake when he was sick, no matter what age, rank, or appearance. Toshiro decided to help the sick taicho out a little bit.

"Rukia-chan," Toshiro started, "Ukitake-san can watch us, but he'll just sit on the couch. That way he can still watch us without becoming exhausted in any way. Don't worry, he'll be fine." Ukitake mouthed a small word of thanks to the young taicho, and Toshiro acnowledged it with a nod.

Rukia sighed, said, "Yes sir," and looked down. She couldn't defy a captain from a different division, no matter what the excuse. It's not that she didn't want her taicho to watch, she was just worried about his health. Oh well, she could worry about that later.

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A finished breakfast and cleaned dishes later...

The shinigami were standing (in Ukitake's case, sitting) in the upstairs living room, watching Toshiro review the spells they had to know. They had to start with the first year spells, to see if they could do them, and eventually advance onward.

Toshiro's eyebrows creased in concentration, and he muttered *wingardium leviosa,* as he pointed his wand at a book. Instantly, the book floatedinto the air, and the young taicho caught it.

"That wasn't very hard," Toshiro thought. All he had to do was send some of his reitatsu through the wand, say the incantation, and you've done magic.

"You guys," Toshiro guestured to Renji, Ichigo, and Rukia as he explained, "will practice this spell. Doing magic wasn't as hard as I had originally thought, so you should all be able to do it pretty easily. All you have to do is send some of your reitatsu through the wand while saying the spell, and the spell will happen. You don't even need much reitatsu control to do this, because these spells only require a little bit."

"Okay!" Rukia replied enthusiastically, "Let's get to work!"

And for the next few hours, the shinigami practiced magic for years 1-4 and perfected it. By the time they were done, the upstairs living was even more disorginized than it had originally been, but nothing was broken.

The shinigami cleaned up the room, and by the time they finished, it was already 6 o'clock.

"I'm going to start making dinner," Toshiro said, "you can do whatever you want until I'm done. I'm sorry Ukitake-taicho, but this rule doesn't apply to you. You're going to have to rest in bed again."

Ukitake frowned, but nodded his head. He knew what would happen if he disobeyed Rukia. Sometimes, it seemed like Rukia was the taicho. He got up from the couch and obediently walked to his room, true to his word.

Renji, Rukia, and Ichigo stared at each other. "So... what're we gonna do?" Renji asked. "I don't know," Ichigo replied just as Rukia answered, "There's a park nearby, let's go there!"

"Sure," Ichigo said back. Renji just shrugged and said, "Whatever you want."

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The shinigami left Number 6 and walked to the park. They walked around for a while and didn't do much, until Renji tripped over a root, and Ichigo called him a "blind idiot."

This resulted in a series of arguments and comebacks, until Rukia had enough and knocked both of them out.

She was just dusting off her hands when she noticed Harry walking up the sidewalk. He hadn't noticed them yet, so Rukia decided to make themselves known.

"Hi, Harry!" Rukia called. Harry looked up in surprise, and jogged over.

"Hello Rukia," Harry responded, "What're you doing here alone?" Rukia shook her head, and gestured toward the knocked out Renji and Ichigo. Harry then jumped back in surprise, seeing them there so suddenly, and fell backwards.

Rukia then started laughing, because his facial expression was so funny, and Harry just grimmaced back.

Rukia continued to laugh, but immediately stopped when she noticed Dudley riding up to them on an expensive sports bike, with a gang of followers behind him, also riding expensive sports bikes. Seeing Harry on the ground made them laugh and make fun of him. Rukia instantly frowned.

"What are *you* doing," Dudley asked Harry in between snickers, "did Rukia trip you? We told you that he was an idiot, and here's living proof of it!" Dudley's gang laughed somemore.

"Hey, Big D!" one of the gang members called, "Let's kick Harry around and see what he does!" Harry frowned, and tried to get up, but Dudley kicked him back down.

"Hey! Rukia! Wanna kick this idiot on the ground?" Dudley asked. Rukia thought it over, and said, "No," just as she kicked Ichigo and Renji to wake them up. They groaned, and sat up.

Judging by the surprised looks on their faces, the gang hadn't noticed Ichigo and Renji until they had woken up. "What do you need now, Rukia?" a very weary, beaten up Ichigo asked. Renji just slumped over, and stood up, frowning as he rubbed his head.

"These guys," Rukia gestured to Dudley's gang, "are bullying Harry. Want to do them in? It'll add a bit of excitement to this boring neighborhood." An evil smirk appeared on her face.

Matching evil smirks appeared on Ichigo's and Renji's faces, as Renji said, "It WAS getting a bit boring, I agree." Ichigo cracked his knuckles, and stared at the gang, a dangerous look on his face.

"Rukia? What are you talking about?" a confused Dudley asked, "Why are you helping this idiot wannabe delinquit?"

"Because," Rukia replied, "I think you're more if an idiot than he is." Harry stared in amazement at Rukia, and smiled at her. He did a thumbs up, but stopped when Dudley kicked him again."

"Okay," Dudley started, "I was being nice to you guys since you were the new neighbors, but no more taking it easy! Gang, let's beat them up!" Shouts of approval filled the air, and the shinigami each took a fighting stance, poised and ready to attack.

Harry stood up to help, but Rukia stopped him and said, "Wait over there." Harry frowned, but obeyed. He walked over to the side, and waited. The tension was so thick that it seemed like there was an ocean of tension surrounding the area.

Dudley ran toward Rukia, and Harry closed his eyes, waiting for the worst to come, but he didn't hear a cry from Rukia, Ichigo, or Renji. Instead, he heard a cry of pain from Dudley. Harry opened his eyes, and saw Dudley clutching his nose.

Rukia had a satisfied smirk plastered on her face, and she said, "Is that all you got? Renji and Ichigo didn't even have to do anything!" Dudley continued to clutch his nose, and was about to issue another command, but his gang had already fled.

Dudley's eyes bulged, and Ichigo grabbed him from behind. "We're gonna take you home and tell your folks about this," Renji told him. Dudley's eyes widened, but this time in surprise.

"He's in deep shit now," Rukia thought as Harry walked over.

"Wow..." Harry said in awe, "that was amazing! I've never seen Dudley get beaten up by only one person before!"

Ichigo responded to that comment, "That wasn't even very hard for her, she's a lot stronger than that. Actually, we all are. But, Toshiro and Uki—I mean, father, are even better than the three of us!"

Harry's eyes widened at that, and Dudley looked like he was about to faint. Ichigo gripped him even tighter, and growled, "Stand up." Dudley instantly obeyed and straightened up.

"Let's go home," Rukia said, finishing the conversation. The shinigami started off home, Dudley still captive, with Harry following close behind them.

There was little talk on the way home, but the shinigami became attentive and alert when the air suddenly became thick and cold, and the sky turned dark.

It felt like when Hitsugaya taicho's bankai was released, but they knew he would never do that around here.

They weren't the only tense ones, though, Harry instantly snapped to attention, and looked surprised, even a little scared. Dudley looked even more scared, and looked toward Harry.

The air quickly became darker and colder, and Harry became more worried as the seconds ticked by.

The group had almost reached their street, when dark, robed figures descended upon them. The shinigami snapped into fighting stances and released Dudley, but Dudley just stood there and then fell to the ground.

Harry pulled out his wand and yelled into the dark, "You can't fight them off bare-handed!" He hoped the shinigami had heard them, because there were two dementors, ready to strike and suck out their souls.

"Crap!" Rukia thought once she noticed the dementors, "We probably need some type of magic to defeat them! But we don't even know the spell! Actually, we don't even have our wands! How could I be so stupid? Shit!"

She noticed one of the dementors descend toward Dudley, and she began to run over, but she fell when she felt all of the happiness sucked out of her.

The moment she had to kill Kaien replayed in her head, and illusions of Ichigo, Renji, and her taicho filled her thoughts. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she couldn't stop them, no matter how hard she tried.

Similar things were happening to Ichigo and Renji, but it all stopped after the shinigami heard Harry yell, "EXPECTO PETRONUM!"

Ichigo, Renji, and Rukia saw the dementors flee, and they sighed in relief. But, they were very weary and exhausted, and they fainted.

"Damn it!" Harry thought, "I had to perform a spell in front of them! I'm sooooo screwed!" He then realized that they fainted, and swore.

"This is just great!" Harry thought, how am I going to explain this to their relatives?" He walked over to the shinigami, and was about to shake them when Ichigo woke up and groaned.

"What just happened?" Ichigo mumbled to Harry. And Harry, being Harry, quickly came up with another one of his famous on-the-moment-thought-up-lies, and replied, "We were mugged by a group of strangers, but thankfully, they didn't take anything. They knocked us all out, though."

Ichigo, knowing that this wasn't really true, suddenly remembered the truth, and pretended to believe Harry's lies.

He then realized that the other shinigami were still knocked out, so he woke them up. The substitute shinigami woke each of them up differently, though.

For Rukia, Ichigo gently shook her to wake her up, and quietly explained what happened. But to Renji, he kicked him and called him stupid. THEN he explained what happened.

After Ichigo exploded in his face, Renji yelled back, "Damn you! What was that for?" This comment provoked Ichigo, and the two idiots broke into a fight of yells, which Rukia quickly ended by knocking them both on their heads. *Hard.*

"Well, that was an interesting turn of events," Rukia said while Renji and Ichigo both rubbed their heads. "That Rukia hits SO DAMN HARD!" they thought at the same time.

"Anyway," Rukia continued, "bye Harry! I guess we'll be seeing you later! Take care!"

"Yeah, bye guys!" Harry called back as the two groups separated, on their way back to their homes. (Dudley wasn't quite walking, though. He was supported by Harry because of what had recently happened.)

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At the shinigami dinner table...

After the shinigami had eaten their dinners, Rukia told the taichos what had happened to them at the park with Harry, and they sat there with confused, but calculating, looks on their faces.

"I think what you saw today was a dementor," Ukitake started, "They eat souls, and can deprive the area around them of all happiness. Their method of eating souls is their kiss, which can suck out someone's soul. But, they're supposed to be guarding Azkaban, the wizarding prison, right now, and the Ministry of Magic is in control of them. I wonder what happened..."

Rukia, Ichigo, Renji, and Toshiro frowned at this new information. Actually, Renji smirked more than frowned and said, "Kiss? Pshaw!"

"This is serious, Ukitake replied, "If you are ever out of your gigai when around a dementor, run. Because when we are out of the faux body, we will be nothing but a *pure soul.* The dementor won't even have to suck us up!"

Seeing the startled looks on the other shinigamis' faces, Ukitake continued, "Well, on a lighter note, I was thinking that we should organize a night watch to guard Harry. We can watch from our roof, and take shifts. If you see anything, you can alert me of it and we'll head out to see what happened. Out of our gigais, of course. Do you think that's a good idea? Because if none of you like it, we don't have to do it."

"N-no!" Rukia exclaimed, "We think that's a great idea! Right guys?" She added a glare to the "Right guys?" and then glared at Ichigo and Renji.

They would've said yes anyway, so Ichigo said, "Yeah!" and Renji nodded his head enthusiastically, unfazed by Rukia's glare.

Toshiro was more formal, and he replied with, "That's a great idea, Ukitake-san, we can start three days from now. Just to make sure that we're ready for anything and we don't have to change any sleeping arrangements. Any objections?"

Everyone in the room shook their head, and Toshiro continued, we'll start at 6 P.M. and end at 6 A.M. This means that we will each have a 3 hour watch. Anyone wish to volunteer to go first?"

Ichigo and Renji raised their hands, but Ichigo raised his first. "Kurosaki is first, then. Abarai, you'll be second watch. Kuchiki, third, and I'll be last."

Noticing Ukitake's confused expression, Toshiro answered, "I'm sorry, Ukitake-san, but you need your rest. Now more than ever because of your recent attack at the Dursleys'."

Ukitake sighed, knowing that something like this was coming, and reluctantly agreed. He knew that Rukia would hold a fit if he didn't agree, so he had to. It was just that he didn't ever want to be a burden, but it seemed like that was all he ever was.

"Okay then," Toshiro finishied, "three days from now, we will start the night watch."

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Three days later; the roof...

Ichigo was currently on watch. He was out of his body, in shinigami form, observing the boring street of Privet Drive.

"Man," he thought, "this is so boring. And my watch isn't even almost over yet! How do the rest of them do this on missions? I *need* my precious sleeping time. Even Yuzu and Karin know that! But, they learned it the hard way..."

The substitute shinigami's thoughts were interrupted, however, when when a large *CRACK!* sounded through the air in the direction of Harry's house, and shadows soon appeared in his kitchen window. Ichigo was so startled, that he jumped up, and froze. Yes, the fearless (A/N: *cough*sarcasm*cough*) shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, who took on almost all of the Soul Society, was sartled by a loud cracking sound.

Realizing what had just happened, Ichigo ran inside the house through an open window, and shunpoed into Ukitake's overly-clean room, the exact opposite of Renji's and his own.

"Ukitake-san!" Ichigo whispered loudly, "Some strange people just appeared in Harry's house! Should we follow them?"

Now awake, Ukitake nodded and said, "Wake everyone up, and meet outside in the front door." He then ate a Gigonkan Soul Candy, and told his substitute soul to act normal and stay inconspicuous. It nodded, and Ukitake and Ichigo ran to the other rooms.

Ukitake ran to Toshiro's room and woke him up, while Ichigo ran to his and woke Renji up. They then woke Rukia up, and shunpoed outside in front of their front door. None of them forgot to bring their wands.

By then, the shinigami could see could see the strangers outside, carrying broomsticks. "BROOMSTICKS?" Renji and Ichigo thought at the same time. Toshiro just raised an eyebrow quizzically, while Rukia stared, slack-jawed, and Ukitake smiled. Apparently, he was the only one who knew what they were for.

Ichigo was about to ask him, "What the hell are THOSE for?" but his question was answered when the strangers pushed off of the ground, sitting on the broomsticks, and launched into the air.

At this point, Ichigo's, Renji's and Rukia's mouths were wide open, and both of Toshiro's eyebrows were raised. Ukitake just continued to smile, and said, "Let's go!" as a signal to follow them.

The shinigami, snapping out of their dazes, immediately obeyed. They jumped up into the air, feeling the wind in their faces, and formed reitatsu platforms beneath their feet.

They then pursued the strangers for a long distance, not knowing where they were going, and just following the mission and guarding Harry.

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Harry's POV

Mad-Eye Moody had a smirk on his face, and his large, electric-blue eye was pointing backwards so that all you could see of it was its slimy, white back.

"I wonder why Professor Moody's smirking," Harry thought, "Oh well, I'll just find out later." Little did he know, he would, and his surprise at seeing his neighbors with the wizards will be very great.

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Back to the shinigami...

"Where are we going?" Ichigo yelled over the wind. They were currently shunpoing in midair, following the wizards on the broomsticks.

"I'm not sure," Ukitake yelled back, "Just continue to follow them!"

The shinigami continued to follow them, and they soon reached a street full of large, old houses. They ran behind a bush and hid, still watching the mysterious wizards.

Suddenly, one of them, a scarred, old man, pulled out something that appeared to be a lighter, and flicked it. Immediately, the lights in the area turned off and were absorbed by the strange object.

Thes same wizard said something to Harry, and then handed him a piece of paper. The old man then flicked his wand and muttered an incantation. And, to the shinigamis' great surprise, a house appeared in between two others!

The wizards stepped into the house, and were almost all the way in, when the scarred wizard said in a loud voice, "You can come out now! I know you're there!" The shinigami instantly froze, and Harry, who was standing on the threshold of the door, turned around with a surprised look on his face.

"Should we go?" Rukia asked to no one in particular.

"I don't know," Toshiro answered her, "Let's wait and see what happens."

The scarred wizard said again, "We're not the enemy! We're with Dumbledore!"

When Ukitake heard the name, he said, "Let's go. He doesn't look it sound like he's lying, and Harry appears to know these people."

The shinigami stepped out from behind the bush, in all of their death god glory, and walked over. Harry's mouth was slack-jawed, and his eyebrows were raised.

"He isn't even trying to cover his surprise," Toshiro noted, as he said, "Hello," to Harry.

"What are you doing here? And what are you wearing?" Harry almost yelled. They were, after all, wearing their shinigami uniforms. At the same time, Ukitake and the old, scarred wizard were having a conversation.

They had just finished when Harry asked/yelled his questions, and Ukitake said to the shinigami, "This is Mad-Eye Moody. He knows *who* we are and what we're doing here. Apparently, Dumbledore-sama told him of us beforehand. I didn't know that, though. Overall, those wizards that we saw are friends."

The taicho then turned to Harry and said, "Once we get inside, we'll answer what we can, okay?" Harry just nodded, and stepped inside. Mad-Eye and the shinigami followed soon afterward.

Once they stepped inside, they saw a red-headed woman run up to Harry and hug him. He looked startled for a second, but just stood there, and smiled, welcoming her embrace.

The red-haired woman told Harry something, and he reluctantly nodded. She then noticed the shinigami, and walked up to Ukitake. She glanced at his hair and what he was wearing, and said, "Hello, I'm Molly Weasley, the mother of one of Harry's best friends. Who are you?"

Ukitake answered, "I am the step-father of these children here," he guestured to the other shinigami, sticking with the I-am-your-parent excuse, "and my name is Jūshirō Ukitake."

Rukia followed her taicho's example, and introduced herself, "I'm Rukia Kuchiki, and I'm 15 years old," Rukia said, "Nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you too, dear," Mrs. Weasley kindly replied.

Then, Ichigo introduced himself, "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, I'm 15, too, and this idiot over here is Renji Abarai. He's also 15, but acts nothing like it," Renji glared at him and exclaimed, "Hey!" then turned away.

Mrs. Weasley looked at Ichigo's hair, and then at Renji's, and frowned.

"Hello, pleasure to meet you. And who are you, dear?" the woman asked, turning her attention away from Ichigo and Renji, and adressing Toshiro.

"I am Toshiro Hitsugaya," the young taicho introduced formally, "and I am 15..." He knew that Mrs. Weasley had thought he was younger, so a vein popped in his head and the temperature dropped a few degrees. The shinigami backed away from him.

"Oh..." a startled Mrs. Weasley replied as she stared at his hair, "Nice to meet you."

Apparently, this lady didn't like their hair OR what they were wearing. None of them could help it, though, it was natural.

Suddenly changing the subject, she turned to Ukitake again and exclaimed, "Why did you bleach your hair? It's a bad example for the children! It's unheard of!"

Ukitake sweat-dropped, and put up a nervous smile. "...It's... natural..." he replied, "actually, all of our hair is..."

Mrs. Weasley looked shocked, and then very embarrased. "Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized.

All of a sudden, Rukia remembered something. "Is there a spare bed anywhere around here right now?" she asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Umm..." Mrs. Weasley mumbled, "Yes, in that room to the left. Why?"

"Because," Rukia answered, "father here," she gestured toward Ukitake, "needs to rest. We'll explain why later."

Ukitake looked worried, and like he wanted to be anywhere but back in bed again. "Rukia-chan," he started, "I'm feeling fine today! Actually! I'm feeling great!"

"No," Rukia replied, "you are not fine. You still need to rest and recuperate. Get in bed right now!"

"Rukia-chan, I'm fin—" Ukitake said again, but he never got to finish his sentance because he suddenly fainted.

Everyone but Mad-Eye and the shinigami gasped as he fell. Instead, the shinigami face-palmed. Ichigo caught him and supported him, and Rukia said, "Told you so."

"Wh-what just happened?" Mrs. Weasley stuttered.

Renji answered back in a 'no-duh' tone of voice, "He fainted."

"I know that!" Mrs. Weasley snapped, "Why did he faint?"

Rukia, Ichigo, and Renji yawned, and Rukia said, "I'll tell you tomorrow. Is there a bedroom that the five of us can share? We're really tired right now, and just want to sleep. We don't even need beds. Just some mats will do."

"Nonsense!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as Ukitake woke up.

"Thanks Ichigo," he mumbled.

"Anytime," Ichigo replied.

"While I show Harry to the room that he is sharing with best friends, I can show you your room. They're right next to each other, after all."

"Thank you, Molly-san," Ukitake wheezed.

"No problem," she said back, glancing worridly at the taicho, "Do you need any help?"

"No, I'm fine," the sickly man replied as he tried to stand up on his own. He stumbled, and Ichigo caught and supported him again.

"I'm sorry, Kurosaki-san," a crestfallen Ukitake mumbled.

Ichigo then asked, "For what?" with a quizzical expression on his face.

"Never mind... Let's just go..." Ukitake sighed. Rukia looked worridly at him.

"He isn't usually this... admitting... or depressed..." Rukia thought, "I hope taicho gets better soon..."

Toshiro was having similar thoughts as he glanced at his sickly comrade. If the 13th division captain didn't get better before they arrived at Hogwarts, he didn't know what would happen.

"Let's go!" Mrs. Weasley said sympathetically, but her voice became harder when she said, "On the way up, don't touch anything."

Harry, being quiet all this time (which surprised the wizards) said, "Okay." The shinigami just nodded and followed.

On the way up the stairs, Rukia noticed a line of shrunken heads (that looked like ugly elves) nailed to the wall.

"Eeew," she thought, "that is so gross!"

Once the group had reached the second story, Mrs. Weasley led Harry to a room. She opened the door, and a bushy-brown-haired girl burst out and hugged Harry. She was followed by a red-headed boy who smiled and waved at Harry. The brunette then noticed the shinigami and stared at them.

Harry whispered something in her ear, and the three of them stepped back into the room. She glanced worridly back at the shinigami one more time before closing the door.

"That girl you just saw is Hermione," Mrs. Weasley introduced, "and the boy was one of my seven children, Ronald. He prefers to be called Ron, though. Here is your room." Mrs. Weasly opened a door right beside Harry's and his friends' room, and the shinigami stepped inside. It was a very large room that had three beds and two folded cots.

"Thank you Molly-san," Rukia whispered, "and good night!"

"Good night, dears," Mrs. Weasley said back, "see you in the morning!"

Rukia quietly closed the door, and opened the window to get some fresh air into that old, dusty room. Ichigo helped Ukitake get to his bed, and the taicho layed down. He immediately fell asleep.

"Ahh..." she murmured, currently content with the world and her surroundings. She was just about to go to bed herself, when she realized that they left their trunks at Number 6!

Of course, being fairly intelligent, she immediately remembered a summoning charm. Reviewing over what it was in her head, she concentrated, and said, "Accio trunks!" And, after a few minutes, to her surprise, their trunks flew in through the window.

"It worked!" Rukia thought, "Yes!" Her eyes became droopy, suddenly, and she felt the urge to fall asleep. The shinigami yawned, and climbed inti the last remaining bed.

The two taicho's had the other beds, and Ichigo and Renji were sleeping on the cots.

"Good night," Rukia whispered into the night. An owl hooted, not very far off, and Rukia fell asleep.

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In Harry/Hermione/Ron's room, after the "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ANYTHING?" arguement...

"Who were those people?" a puzzled Hermione asked Harry. Harry's eyebrows furrowed in concentration and he thought for a second before replying.

"They were my next-door neighbors, but I don't know what to think anymore..."

"What if they're on *You-Know-Who's* side, mate?" Ron asked after Harry replied to Hermione's question.

"I don't know!" Harry said again, almost shouting, "Let's just ask them tomorrow, okay? Good night."

Hermione and Ron stared at him after his sudden outburst, as he turned over in his bed.

"G' night," Ron said, as he and Hermione climbed into their beds, too. They turned off the lamps, and soon fell asleep.

Tomorrow was going to be a very long day for them.

See what I mean by OOCness?

I know! More Ukitake torture! =P I'm SO sorry! Please don't kill me! (SPOILER WARNING!) From now on, he's going to be healthier, and his last attack for a while will be during his first sword-fighting lesson with the Golden Trio, the Griffindors, the Slytherins, and the shinigami. Then, everything will be pretty good. (Professor Umbridge not included, I HATE that lady!)

On a happier note, thanks for reading!

PLEASE HIT THE BLUE REVIEW BUTTON BELOW! YA' KNOW YA' WANNA!

~Indigo Fox


	4. Chapter 4

I'm so sorry that it took me FOREVER to update! I had a writer's block (and school). =P Curse you writer's blocks! XP

OMG! 0_o 24 reviews already! XD Thanks for reading and reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this chappie! But before it starts, a list of those who reviewed, favorited, and followed!

Thank you very much for the reviews, follows, and favorites:

articwolfes

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THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR EVERYTHING! I'm so happy that I feel like I'm going to burst of happiness! XD

Jiyle gets a packet of pocky, a platter of mitarashi dango, a mochi ball, and a bowl of ramen for being the tenth reviewer! =D

ForeverFalling86 gets TWO packets of pocky, TWO platters of mitarashi dango, TWO mochi balls, and TWO bowls of ramen for being the twentieth reviewer! =D Thanks again for all the reviews, everyone! XD

Any OOC-ness is accidental, and I am sorry for any of it! =)

I've forgotten to set a time line, so let's just say that this takes place during the Order of the Pheonix for Harry Potter, and before the war with Aizen and Orihime's capture for Bleach!

I probably won't mention their pets very much, if at all, so let's just say that they're doing whatever you think that they're doing. They can be partying, sleeping, eating, becoming fat, heck, even *drinking* for all I care! (By the way, theyre underage in human AND pet years!) Whoever comes up with the funniest situation will get a free platter of my famous, digital homemade cookies, for free!

Oh, and I forgot the part when Harry's questions got answered, so let's just assume that they were magically (no pun intended) put into his (and the other-wizards-that-were-present-at-the-time's) head. That way, poor Ukitake won't have to deal with very loud, headache-inducing shouting/yelling/screaming. Now, ON TO CHAPPIE FOUR! XD

Death at Hogwarts's Doors

Chapter 4

by Indigo (fayfan)

Number 12 Grimmauld Place...

Ichigo was sleeping, enjoying a dream of wiping the smirk off Byakuya's face and beating some sense into him, when a large "CRACK!" filled his dream.

"What?" Ichigo shouted, as his surroundings faded away into a large dark and dusty room.

The substitute shinigami sat up with a groan, and rubbed the back of his head. Two tall, look-alike red-heads were standing in front of him, similar large grins plastered on their faces.

"Good morning, mate!" one of them said.

"Pleasure to meet you this fine day, ain't it?" the other one followed him, mock-bowing. The two red-heads inched closer to the shinigami, until they were almost standing on his bed. They were beginning to creep out the substitute shinigami.

"So, what's your name?" twin #1 (as Ichigo had dubbed him) asked, "We need to know the names of the people we are going to prank. So, what's your name?"

A vein popped in Ichigo's forehead, and much killer intent filled the room. A sleeping Toshiro twitched, and a dreaming Rukia rolled over. Ukitake stayed the same, but Renji let out a large snore.

"Look at the bloke," twin #2 said, loudly, to his brother, "he's just sitting there, not doing anything!"

"How dare they wake me up, early in the morning, threaten to prank me, call me a bloke, and then ask my name without even telling me theirs' first?" an enraged Ichigo thought, almost shouting these words out loud. These guys were really getting annoying.

After a second of thought, Ichigo, changing his demeanor, decided to take this in stride. Pretending not to hear their earlier comment, he said, "My name's Ichigo. What's yours?"

Twin #1 answered, "I'm Fred," and twin #2 completed his sentance with a, "and I'm George! No, wait, today, *I'm* Fred, and *you're* George!"

"Yeah!" the other twin said back.

Ichigo sweat-dropped, and the twins continued to talk.

"You've probably already met our baby brother, ickle Ronnie, and our dear, dear mother."

"Yeah," Ichigo interrupted, "your mother didn't like our hair." He gestured to the other shinigami, and they snickered.

"What did you guys *do* to your hair?" Fred asked. "Did you *bleach* it?" George followed.

Ichigo suddenly let his reitatsu go out of check, and he screamed, "WHY DOES EVERYONE ALWAYS THINK THAT? THIS IS MY NATURAL COLOR!"

Fred and George snickered, and the shinigami heard one of them whisper, "Someone's a widdle tired."

It was that moment when Rukia suddenly woke up, and threw her pillows at Ichigo and the twins. The poor boys hadn't seen this coming, and were hit full in the face.

"SHUT THE HELL UP AND LET US SLEEP!" Rukia screamed. Renji twitched in his bed, yawned, and stretched.

"Language Rukia... Calm down," he murmured, and he added under his breath, "Follow your own advice while you're at it."

Rukia, seemingly having the ears of a bat at times like this, heard him, and threw her blanket at him. It hit him in the head and knocked him off of his bed.

Ichigo backed away from her in fright, and thought, "How hard can she throw? And I thought *I* was screwed!"

"Anyone else wanna try that?" Rukia threatened, leaking out quite a bit of her reitatsu. Ichigo and Renji shivered.

"Dang, that girl can be *scary* sometimes!" the two shinigami thought. Renji picked himself up off the floor, straightened his appearance, and said, "I'm going to go downstairs. Maybe Mrs. Weasley is done with breakfast..."

Fred and George immediately perked up, remembering what they even came in there for, and announced, "Back to business. We came to tell you breakfast was ready! See you slow-pokes downstairs!"

A loud "CRACK!" filled the air, and the twins vanished.

"So that's what that sound was," Ichigo thought. Those twins were going to get it later. They had ruined his dream, and revenge would be sweet.

Ichigo turned back toward the others, and noticed Toshiro sitting up, wide awake, with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Ichigo, what's up? Why are you looking past us like that?" Renji asked, beginning to walk to the door.

Ichigo was irked that Toshiro had known what was going on [between Rukia and them], and didn't do anything. He decided that he was going to annoy the young taicho.

Ichigo pointed to the captain, and said, "Toshiro knew what was happening [between Rukia and us], and didn't do anything about it!"

Renji turned around, and saw Toshiro's mouth curve into a frown.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho," Toshiro murmered, the temperature dropping a few degrees. He was clearly annoyed.

"Yes, mission accoplished!" Ichigo triumphantly thought as he yelled, "Race you downstairs, Renji!" to an unsuspecting fuku-taicho.

"Of course," Renji replied, "but you don't stand a chance!"

"We'll see about that!" the substitute shinigami yelled back, as he raced through the doorway. Renji followed in pursuit, only stopping to look back at Rukia and smirk.

"Those teenagers can be *so* hyper and annoying sometimes," Rukia thought, as she shook her head and smiled.

"But that's why we like them," she finished thinking.

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Toshiro's POV

"And Ukitake taicho is still asleep... What does he go through every day?" he thought.

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Normal POV: Downstairs

Just a few seconds ago, Renji and Ichigo had begun their race downstairs. Well, Renji did the racing, and Ichigo just jumped over the top stair rail, to land in front of a startled Mrs. Weasley.

"Ah! Boys, there you are!" Mrs. Wealsley exclaimed, with a shocked expression on her face, "I was just about to call you down."

Ichigo grimmaced, and Renji smirked and said, "Don't do that again, strawberry, you'll give someone a heart attack!"

"Whatever, pineapple!" Ichigo retorted. Just then, Rukia did the same thing as Ichigo (jumped over the stair rail) and landed on top of the two shinigami, crushing them.

"Yeah, they both couldn't resist being idiots," the 13th division member said. Mrs. Weasley looked even more startled at seeing a girl do that amazing feat.

"W-well," the mother stuttered, "it's time for breakfast! Are those two going to be okay?" She looked worridly at the two boys.

Rukia just shrugged, and with a neutral expression on her face, said, "You shouldn't be worrying about these two. You should be worrying about Ukitake-taicho when he wakes up after over-exerting himself yesterday."

Mrs. Weasley was surprised that such a sweet, young girl could be this violent.

"Oh well," the mother thought, "these people are a bit strange, and I'll straighten her out by the end of their stay here!"

She then said, "Let's go into the kitchen and eat breakfast, okay?" Rukia nodded, and put a smile on her face.

"Maybe I'm just judging her a little too harshly," Mrs. Weasley whispered to herself, while Rukia was thinking, "Taicho is *so* going to get it when he comes down for breakfast! If he's not well enough for me to hit him on the head, I'll just lecture him and yell at him, even though he's my superior."

Rukia stepped off of Ichigo and Renji, and poked them with her foot. They groaned and stood up.

"Come on, idiots, breakfast time!" she said. Once the word "breakfast" was mentioned, the two shinigami perked up. They chose to ignore the "idiots" comment, though, so that they wouldn't get beaten up by Rukia again.

The three shinigami walked into the kitchen, and saw that Harry, Ron, Hermione, the twins, a girl that looked like she was a Weasley because of her red hair, some of Harry's escorts, and a ragged-looking, black-haired man were already eating, or just sitting or standing around.

Harry's bubblegum-pink-haired escort from last night yawned, and mentioned that she had been keeping guard all night. Rukia noted that the wizards were smart enough to position a guard, but they obviously weren't used to it.

"They're not as well-prepared as shinigami, but they thought-out more than I had originally expected them to," Rukia thought. Deciding to make the shinigami known, she said, "Good morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione!"

Harry jumped, Hermione stifled a shriek of surprise, and Ron muttered, "Bloody..!" Rukia just smiled, and Renji and Ichigo smirked.

"What? Scared of a little hello?" Renji chided. Harry and Ron blushed, and Hermione held her chin high.

"No," the Golden Trio responded.

Ichigo continued to smirk, and said, "You better not be, or you'll be lower than my expectations. Ron frowned, and opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but was interrupted by a hidden Toshiro.

"Kurosaki, Abarai, don't make-fun of the wizards," the young taicho ordered. The two shinigami nodded, but glared at him because he had surprised them again.

"This is beginning to get old, Kurosaki, Abarai, Kuchiki. I expect you to sharpen your senses. If not, someone might catch you off guard and kill you," Toshiro instructed.

"Yes, Hitsugaya-taicho!" Rukia obeyed. Not wanting anymore "punishment" from Rukia, Renji and Ichigo nodded instead of responding back with a snobby, disrespectful comment. Even though he was their superior, they just couldn't help it at times like this.

The shinigami had almost forgotten about the wizards' presence, when Ron interrupted their conversation saying, "Why should they listen to you? You're just a kid like the rest of us, actually, even younger!"

Toshiro immediately stiffened, and turned to face the red-head. The temperature dropped at least 20 degrees, and it was still decreasing.

"That was the wrong thing to say," the young taicho muttered, "I have lived much longer than you wizards ever will, and I am Renji's, Rukia's, and Ichigo's superior. I have seen more than you ever will, and you could only dream about what I've been through."

(A/N: I don't know how old Toshiro really is, so I'm just going to say that he is 212 years old. Please don't get mad! Rukia is going to be 200, Renji is also going to be 200, and Ukitake is going to be 2,130! LOL random number! Ichigo is 15.)

Ron just stared, slack-jawed, no doubt wondering what he meant, and Harry and Hermione were glancing worridly between the two of them.

Toshiro was about to say more, but a certain sickly, white-haired captain walked into the room. He was smiling, oblivious to the tension in the air.

"Good morning, everyone!" he greeted, "Hello Shiro-kun, Rukia-chan, Abarai-san, Kurosaki-san, Potter-san, Weasley-sans, Granger-chan!"

Toshiro's demeanor changed immediately from enraged to worried once he saw the sick taicho out of bed, and Rukia looked like she had just seen a ghost (no pun intended).

"Taicho! What are you doing out of bed?" Rukia freaked, "Go back upstairs right now and rest!"

"Rukia-chan," Ukitake immediately responded to his defense, "I'm feeling all right today, really! I even made it downstairs without feeling faint at all! Honest!"

Rukia looked like she was about to object some more, but Toshiro rebuked her, saying, "Let him stay out of bed for a little while to get some fresh air, he can go back later. Even Unohana-taicho advises that patients should get at least *some* fresh air every once in a while. Let him be."

Rukia frowned, but then realized that Toshiro was correct. If *she* was in her taicho's postion, she would want to stay out of bed, too.

"Thank you, Rukia-chan," Ukiatake gratefully responded. His smile soon became a grimmace, though, when Rukia walked over to her taicho and hit him on the head.

"Just this once, taicho," the female shinigami said, "Besides, you are going to go *right* back to bed right after breakfast, and maybe after a few explanations, too. I think that *some* people here want to have their questions answered."

Rukia looked toward the younger wizards, and nodded her head. They could start asking the shinigami questions.

"Finally! We're going to get some answers from them!" Harry thought excitedly. He'd gotten some answers from the Order last night, and now he was getting more! This was a great day for him! Of course, not including the fact that he might be expelled... and that he had to go to the Ministry for a hearing... and that his parents were dead... and that a psycho mass-murder was out to kill him... Yes, this was a fine day indeed!

"Where are you from, what is a "taicho," what do you mean by Toshiro (the said taicho grimmaced) is your superior, are you all really related, and what are you doing here?" Hermione interrupted Harry's thoughts, rapid-fire voicing the Golden Trio's questions. She looked up eagerly at the shinigami, her mind on a quest to gather information.

"Umm..." Ukitake began to answer, rubbing his chin, "I can't answer your first question, "taicho" means captain, can't answer your third one, we aren't related, but that is part of our cover/disguise, and I can't give you the answer to that last question. I'm sorry, but that is highly confidential."

Ron and Harry blinked, confused, barely able to keep up with the information, while Hermione was frowning.

"What do you mean by, "confidential"?" she asked. Ukitake grimmaced, having to answer another question.

"Well you see," the 13th division captain started, "we come from a militaristic society, and I can't disclose that information to you without permission from my superiors. If I tell you without permission, they can punish me with death."

Hermione scowled, but said no more. The other two members of the Golden Trio also scowled, after a few moments of deciding what course of action to take.

"Fine," Hermione compromised, "but we'll figure it out eventually once we can get to the school library! I'll be sure of that!" Harry nodded, and Ron said, "Yeah!"

"Enough questions!" Mrs. Weasley interrupted all of them, "Hurry and eat your breakfast! We have to get rid of some doxies that are nesting in the curtains upstairs. Also, Bill said that he found a nest of dead puffskeins under the couch. We have lots of work to do today!"

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After breakfast...

The shinigami (Ukitake not included; true to her word, Rukia sent him to bed after breakfast), Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, and Mrs. Weasley were standing in front of the curtains, faces covered with hankerchiefs, Doxicide in their hands, ready to spray.

"Okay," Mrs. Weasley instructed, "On three, spray the curtains, and the Doxies will come out. It says in this book here (written by a certain Gilderoy Lockhart) that their fangs are poinsonous. I have a bottle of antidote here, but I would prefer not to have to use it. It says on the can that one good spray should paralyze them. When they're paralyzed, drop them into this bucket right over here. We'll properly dispose of them later. On three, spray: one―two―THREE!"

The shinigami and wizards squinted their eyes and sprayed. After a few seconds, a beetle-like creature flew at Harry. It was almost touching him, fangs bared, when it suddenly froze in midair and dropped to the ground. Harry picked it up, and threw it into the bucket.

"That must be a Doxy," Ichigo thought. But, his thoughts were interrupted when a Doxy flew at him. The substitute shinigami was still spraying, though, so it also froze in midair and dropped, just like Harry's doxie.

The substitute shinigami picked it up and inspected it closer. It was small, black, and fairy-like. It had four arms and wings.

"This thing sure is ugly," Ichigo thought as he threw it into the bucket. Rukia followed him, a frozen Doxy being held in between her fingers.

"Good thing we don't have these in Karakura Town or the Soul Society! These "Doxies" are so horrible-looking!" Rukia whispered to Ichigo.

Ichigo nodded, and Renji walked over, crushing a Doxy in his fist before spraying it full in its face.

"That was fun," Renji said. Ichigo smirked at his comment, but Rukia frowned and shook her head; probably thinking something around the lines of, "Animal cruelty!" or, "Those barbaric bastards!"

The shinigami went back to work (spraying Doxies), when they saw George try to pocket one, and Mrs. Weasley yell at him as the result. When she turned around, he quickly pocketed it, and Harry walked up to him.

They whispered some things to each other, trying to make it look like they were working instead of talking, but the shinigami could see right through it.

"I wonder what they're whispering about," Ichigo thought, "I'll ask Harry about it later."

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A few hours later...

The de-Doxifying had taken most of the morning, and by the time it was over, the wizards were exhausted. The shinigami, of course, where merely fazed.

"That was fun," Rukia said truthfully to Mrs. Weasley, "Are we going to do this for the rest of the day?"

Mrs. Weasley looked puzzledly at Rukia, wondering how anyone could think that something like that was "fun", but she replied with a smile, "Yes, dear! But, how could you think that that was fun?"

Rukia looked back at her, and in all seriousness, said, "Most of my day, I just do paperwork or hang out with Ichigo and Renji. Trust me, neither of those are fun."

"Oh," Mrs. Weasley merely gaped, obviously surprised that someone so "young" had to do paperwork.

Harry, overhearing their conversation, interrupted, saying, "Wait. Did you just say that you have to do *paperwork*? You're just a kid, like the rest of us!"

Rukia smirked, and shook her head. "Sorry, can't tell you!" she spoke. But just when she finished speaking, her stomach growled!

"Oops!" she squeaked. Harry, Ichigo, and Renji laughed, while everyone else smiled.

"I'll go get lunch, okay?" Mrs. Weasley said, smiling. She left the room to go downstairs, but after a few seconds, they heard her yelling, "WE ARE NOT RUNNING A HIDEOUT FOR STOLEN GOODS!"

"Someone's got a temper," Rukia heard Ichigo whisper to Renji. Renji just snickered.

"―COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE, AS IF WE HAVEN'T GOT ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT WITHOUT YOU DRAGING STOLEN CAULDRONS INTO THE HOUSE―"

"The idiots are just letting her get in stride," Ichigo heard George say to Harry, and he let out a bark of laughter, catching George's attention.

"What's so funny?" Fred asked. Ichigo was now grinning like there was no tomorrow.

"It's just a nice change hearing someone yell at someone other than myself," Ichigo answered, "I'm always getting yelled at by Rukia."

"I concur," Fred replied, with false seriousness. George nodded his head.

"We can get along," George said. Ichigo smiled, and said agreeingly, "Hey, do you like pranks?"

"Yeah!" both Fred and George agreed, "Don'cha know? We're like the king of pranks here! Just ask mum!"

Ichigo's eyes widened, and was about to say something when Rukia interrupted, "I don't like where this is going. Both of you, shut up."

"Do as she says, Kurosaki," a quiet Toshiro now said. He didn't like where this was going, either.

Ichigo looked toward Renji, and they were about to say something again, when a strange, shriveled-up, gray creature walked into the room. It was almost naked, wearing only a ragged loincloth around its middle.

The room became silent, and stared at it. It was mumbling to itself. It continued to mumble to itself, when it suddenly froze and turned around, looking at the shinigami and the wizards.

"I'm sorry, Kreacher did not see young master there," this "Kreacher" said. It continued to mumble to itself, though, things that sounded like curses an insults. It sounded like he was saying, "Half bloods, blood traitors, mudbloods. Oh what my

Mistress would say if she were here!"

Harry and Ron began to yell at it for calling Hermione a "mudblood," and it continued to apologize. It still cursed and muttered loudly, though. The shinigami could hear every word it mumbled.

Harry, Ron, and the twins continued to yell at it, until the ragged, black-haired man from breakfast stepped into the room. He yelled at it even more than Harry and Ron, and told it to get out of the room. It walked out.

"What the heck was that?" Ichigo asked Renji, "It's uglier than Ishida's clothes!

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Back in Karakura Town; Uryuu Residence...

*Achoo!*

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Mrs. Weasley walked back into the room, holding a platter of sandwiches, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Here's lunch. We'll tackle those cabinets over there after lunch." She gestured to a wall completely covered with dusty cabinets, whose contents were quite strange. There were different glasses and bottles inside, filled with strange substances and liquids, and Ichigo was sure that the one with an opal stopper was filled with blood.

"What is up with these wizards?" the substitute shinigami thought.

He then heard the ragged-looking, black-haired man greet Mrs. Weasley cooly, and she greeted him back in the same manner. They were both tense, like they had had a large fight or disagreement. He heard them say little to each other, and then the ragged man, Sirius, as the shinigami had heard, led Harry away.

"Hey, is he trustworthy?" Ichigo asked Hermione and Ron.

"Who, Sirius? Yeah, he is. He is Harry's last known living relative. He's Harry's godfather," Ron answered.

After hearing this, Ichigo's gaze softened, and his eyebrows raised from their furrowed position just the slightest. He knew what it was like to have lost a family member. Not that he was complaining, of course. He still had Yuzu and Karen and that over-eccentric father of his.

Over the next few days, nothing out of the ordinary happened. At least, nothing out of the ordinary in the wizarding world, as the shinigami had learned.

All that happened were bedtimes, mealtimes, and Sirius's hand getting bitten by a seemingly-alive snuff box, which caused the hand to become crusted. He removed the crust with some magic, but Fred and George pocketed it after he put it down, saying that it was for "private matters."

The doorbell rang constantly throughout those days, too, which caused the portrait of Sirius's mother to scream curses and terrible insults. The shinigami still weren't used to this, though.

On Wednesday evening, it was fairly calm, until tension suddenly filled the air. Harry was told that his clothes were being ironed for the next day.

"I wonder what's happening?" Ichigo thought. He would go ask someone.

The substitute shinigami walked over to the huddled group of Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, who were whispering furiously to each other.

"What's happening tomorrow with Harry?" Ichigo asked the group.

Ron turned around, with a surprised look on his face. "Blimey, you didn't hear?" he questioned.

Ichigo shook his head, and Ginny answered his question, saying, "Harry has a hearing tomorrow. Over the summer, he broke one of the most important wizarding laws, and he might be expelled because of that."

"Oh..." Ichigo just mumbled, as he walked away. This sounded like another Rukia incident.

"I'll go ask Ukitake-san if I should go with him." the substitute shinigami thought. He *was* Harry's guard, after all.

Ichigo walked into the shinigami's room, and saw Ukitake in bed, sitting up. He was drinking tea. Rukia was going to allow him to do whatever he pleased the next day, and he was quite excited about it. The taicho wanted be up and about again, without anyone telling him to go back to bed.

"Hi, Ukitake-san," Ichigo greeted the sickly taicho.

"Hello, Ichigo-san!" Ukitake greeted back, "Do you have a question that you would like to ask me?"

Ichigo nodded his head, and replied, "Yes, I was wondering if I should accompany Harry to his hearing. We don't know what could happen, after all."

Ukitake smiled, and responded, "No, I don't think that you should. It would be a bit strange for someone to accompany Harry, and he is going to the Wizarding Capitol, after all. There will be wizards everywhere that can guard Harry. Don't worry, Ichigo-san, I'm sure that Harry will be all right!"

Ichigo nodded his head, understanding the taicho's reasoning, and headed out the door. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

The next day...

Toshiro was sitting, wide-awake, in the living room just outside the kitchen. It was approximately 5:30 in the morning.

The young taicho was meditating, Hyorinmaru in his lap. He hadn't had a chance to converse with his zanpakutō in a long while, and he was becoming quite tense.

"I should set up a few hours each day to talk to Hyorinmaru," Toshiro thought. Then, he could relax, knowing that his zanpakutō was safe and sound. Not that he doubted its abilities, of course!

He was beginning to feel a bit jumpy without the sword at his side. After a hundred years of having Hyorinmaru at his side, it felt wierd to have an empty spot where his zanpakutō should've been. He also felt a bit...deserted...without the familiar reitatsu by his side.

If anyone around him wondered how someone so "young" could be up so early, it was because he was a captain. He had to be up early because:

1) it was his duty as a captain, and

2) if he didn't want his division to become destroyed via drunk Matsumoto, he had to get up early to make sure that she didn't do anything bad.

Yes, it was a hard [after]life.

The silence around him was interrupted, though, when Harry walked into the room. The young wizard looked at Toshiro strangely, and asked, "What are you doing up so early?"

The taicho lazily opened up one eye, and stared back, as he said, "I'm meditating. Please try not to disturb me."

"But why do you have that sword in your lap?" Harry questioned yet again.

Toshiro was beginning to get a bit irked. All he wanted was some peace and quiet, to converse with Hyorinmaru. But of course, things just never went his way.

"He's not 'that sword'," the taicho answered angrily, "he's Hyorinmaru."

Harry raised an eyebrow, and looked back at Toshiro like he was crazy.

"Why does your sword have a name?" Harry asked, once again disturbing Toshiro's silence. He was even beginning to invade his "personal bubble."

(A/N: Just joking! A funny little bit of OOC-ness to add in there! =D)

Toshiro didn't just stare back at Harry, this time, he glared. "Just ask Rukia later, she'll give you the full explanation!" the taicho almost yelled. How could someone get any peace and quiet around here?

Harry, scared by Toshiro's glare, jut nodded, an quickly walked into the kitchen. Toshiro turned around to watch him, and Mrs. Weasley fussed over his hair and clothes.

"His hair doesn't stay down," the taicho noted. His own hair didn't stay down, either.

Harry was then served breakfast by Mrs. Weasley, and he nervously began to eat it. He didn't finish it, though.

Harry got up from the table, and walked over to Mr. Weasley. The two wizards led themselves to the door, and they stepped outside. The door shut, and Tosgiro heard a "click," as if the door had been locked.

"It probably had," the young taicho mused. His demeanor changed, though, as he remembered what was about to take place.

"Good luck, Harry," Toshiro thought, as he re-entered his and Hyorinmaru's inner world.

That afternoon...

Not much had happened that day. Toshiro and the other shinigami meditated the whole day, and the wizards just complained about how boring it was and how worried they were about Harry. Ukitake was released from his bed confinement by Rukia, but that was the only slightly important thing that happened.

After conversing with Hyorinmaru for the whole day, Toshiro had many cramps. The young taicho decided to take a walk around the house to stretch out.

"Anyone want to take a walk around the house?" the captain asked. Two of the remaining four shiniami got up: Renji and Ichigo.

He guessed that Ukitake was still conversing with Sogyo no Kotowari, and Rukia was having a discussion with Sode no Shirayuki. The young taicho shrugged, and walked out of the room; Ichigo and Renji following.

"This is going to be a very boring day," Toshiro thought lazily.

(MAJOR A/N: Okay, I'm going to skip the rest of the day and just go to the next morning; when they're about to leave to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. I don't want to bore all of you awesome readers with the details, and if something important doesn't happen soon, the shinigami are going to die of boredom!

Shinigami in Background: *nods heads*

So, ON TO THE NEXT MORNING! XD)

Late morning, Black house...

Ichigo was having yet another awesome dream, when shouts of, "BOYS! WAKE UP, OR YOU'LL MISS THE TRAIN!" interrupted.

This time, he was dreaming that Byakuya was bowing down to him, and Yachiru was begging the sixth division captain for sweets.

"Why does this always happen to me?" the substitute shinigami mumbled to himself. Fate and good timing just hated him, didn't they?

Deciding that his day was ruined, Ichigo grudgingly woke up. But right after he crawled out of bed, he remembered what day it was. It's was the first official day of the mission!

(A/N: Y'all must hate me by now, with all these A/Ns, I mean. I forgot to mention how the shinigami report to the Soul Society without the car, so let's just say that they have their Soul Pagers with them. I'm not going to mention the reports, either, probably. Maybe only a few important and interesting ones, that's it. Anyway, I'll shut up now!)

Ichigo ran out of bed, punched Renji, and yelled, "WAKE UP BAKA!" This, of course, also caused the other shinigami to wake up, too, and they quickly got dressed. (In different rooms, of course.)

The shinigami shunpoed into the kitchen, surprising everyone there and causing them to think that they could "apparate," whatever the heck that was.

The shiniagmi ignored all comments about them, and finished getting ready. They quickly carried their trunks downstairs, and stood by the door, waiting impatiently for the wizards to finish preparing themselves.

It was nearly 20 minutes before everyone was situated comfortably in the car, with their baggage in the trunk. Ichigo didn't think that all the luggage could fit in there, but saw that it could when he realized that an undedectable-expansion(?) charm had been placed on it.

Mr. Weasley stepped on the breaks, and they were off to the train station.

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Train Station, in front of Platform 9 & 3/4...

Ichigo stared in amazement as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Mrs. and Mr. Weasley, Sirius (dog form; the shinigami had wondered how he could do this, since Yoruichi was the only other person they knew that could teansform into an animal) disappeared through a brick wall.

Ichigo's jaw was gaping, wide open, and he quickly shut it. So all they had to do was fall through the wall, ehh?

Ichigo continued to stare at the wall, but was interrupted when Toshiro walked over to it, looked around (to see that no one was looking), lean on it, and then disappear behind the wall, just like the wizards!

"Well," Ukitake started, "that demonstration from Shiro-chan clarified that we can also go through magical barriers, and things of that sort! Rukia-chan, why don't you go next?"

Rukia obeyed with a, "Yes, taicho," and stepped through the barrier.

"—Abarai-san, you next!"

Renji walked over to the barrier, and fell through. Ichigo and Ukitake were now the last two to go.

"—Kurosaki-san, your turn!"

Ichigo walked over tooth brick wall and casually looked like he was going to lean on it. But when he did, he fell through! He stepped out of the way, because Ukitake came through, and looked around.

There were people everywhere, but behind them all, there was a huge, black(?) train with the words "Hogwarts Express" on it. The train was already letting out steam; it was about to leave!

"Quick—Kurosaki-san! Get inside! The others are already in!" Ukitake exclaimed, as they ran to the train, almost knocking a few people over. But thankfully, they made it in time. The two shinigami were the last ones to get on the train.

Ukutake wiped his brow, and siged in relief as they stepped inside. Harry, Ginny, Rukia, Toshiro, and Renji were on the side, waiting for them.

"Whew—taicho, Ichigo, you made it," Rukia sighed, relieved. She was worried that they wouldn't make it on the train in time, but they did, so all was well.

Noticing that Ron and Hermione weren't there, Ichigo asked, "Where are Ron and Hermione?" to Harry.

Harry replied with, "They had to go to the Prefect's compartment, but they'll come sit with us later. Come on—we have to find a compartment before they're all taken!"

The shinigami nodded, but Ukitake didn't follow, saying, "I have to go to the teachers' compartment. I'll see you at school, okay?"

The shinigami nodded again, and they set off to find a compartment. They had searched the entire train, however, and they could only find one empty compartment; it was the last one.

Ichigo noticed that there was a chubby, flustered looking boy standing in the back.

"Neville, what are you doing over there? Come sit with us," Harry said to 'Neville.'

Neville shook his head, and replied, "I don't want to bother anybody."

Ginny looked into the compartment window, and saw that there was only one person sitting inside—a dirty-blond haired girl reading an upside-down magazine. Ginny knew who it was.

"Don't worry, it's just Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw in my year. I'm sure that she'll let you sit with her if you ask," Ginny assured Neville.

Neville sighed in defeat, and followed Ginny after she stepped inside.

"Good morning, Luna, may we sit here?" the youngest Weasley asked. Luna just nodded, and went back to reading her magazine.

Ichigo thought that she was very strange. Who read magazines upside-down? Little did he know, everyone else was thinking exactly the same thing.

Ichigo was still wondering what the heck was up with these wizards, when Luna looked up and said, "So *you're* Harry Potter! Nice to meet you. But I don't know anyone else, other than Ginny. Who are you? Are you new here?" Luna finished her talk with a look and a gesture toward the shinigami.

Ichigo, deciding to reply, said, "I'm Kuro—I mean, Ichigo Kurosaki."

Luna smiled, and looked toward the other shinigami. "Who're you?" she asked.

Rukia answered, "I'm Rukia! Nice to meet you. And this idiot over here is Renji!" she playfully hit his shoulder, and he just rolled his eyes. Then, she pointed to Toshiro, and said, "The quiet guy over there is Toshiro. We're all transfer student from Japan, and we'll all be in the fifth year."

Not being addressed by his title, and rather by his first name, and being called "the quiet guy" caused a vein to pop out in the young taicho's head. He was beginning to get tired of Britain and its customs; and they had barely even started the mission.

"It's Hitsugaya-taicho," Toshiro mumbled to himself. He was frowning, and definitely not amused by the fact that Rukia had chosen this moment to not address him properly.

Luna stared at Toshiro, and smiled. "Looks like you have a severe case if the shorimorts. If they aren't taken care of, they can turn you completely white. Good thing they left and only got your hair!" she exclaimed.

Toshiro's eyebrows rose just the slightest, and he began to wonder whether this girl was crazy or unstable. She seemed like it.

One last time, Luna turned toward Neville. Already knowing what her gaze meant, he answered, "I'm nobody."

Ginny turned toward him, and exclaimed, "No you're not! He's Neville Longbottom, a Gryffindor in Harry's year."

Luna gazed at everyone one last time before turning back to her magazine, and she stayed quiet. Now, an awkward silence filled the compartment.

But, the strange silence soon stopped when Neville exclaimed, "Oh!" and pulled a strange plant out of his trunk. It looked like a cactus covered with boils instead of needles. It looked quite gruesome, actually.

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia! My uncle gave it to me over the summer from his travels. It's very rare! I don't even know if the Hogwarts greenhouse has one! I'm going to try to breed from it after I show it to Professor Sprout!" Neville happily told anyone who was listening.

"Er..." mumbled Harry, not knowing what to say, "That's great! What exactly does it do?"

Neville's face brightened, and he said, "It has an *amazing* defense system! Let me show you..." He pulled a quill out of his trunk, licked his lips in concentration, and poked the plant with one end. It immediately swelled, and a very gross-looking liquid shot out from each boil.

The liquid squirted everywhere, covering everyone but Ginny, Luna, and the shinigami; Luna's magazine had shielded her, and Ginny and the shinigami held up their arms just in time. Only their arms and the magazine had the liquid, but the others looked like they had jumped into a pool of it.

Neville looked surprised, but quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry! But don't worry, stinksap isn't poisonous!" Harry quickly spit out a mouthful of the stuff, and was about to wipe it all off, when the compartment door opened.

A pretty girl surrounded by other girls were staring into the room. The pretty girl looked like she was about to say something, but stopped when she saw the situation.

"I'm sorry! This must be a bad time! Just wanted to say hi," the girl shut the compartment door and left, blushing. Harry groaned, and got up to wipe off the stinksap, but Ginny made it all vanish with a flick of her wand and the word, "Scourgify!" Instantly, the stinksap vanished.

"I should remember this," Toshiro thought, "This might come in handy when Matsumoto has a hangover..."

After about fifteen minutes, the wizards and shinigami could hear a trolley approaching. Instantly, the wizards' faces brightened, but the shinigami looked confused.

"What is that?" Renji asked. He was deeply hoping that it was food—the fuku-taicho was practically starved!

"That's the candy trolley!" Ginny answered, a grin on her face, "It has all the good ones, and it's like a portable candy store! It has Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans—they really mean every flavor, Chocolate Frogs, Dreubul's Best Blowing Gum, Pumpkin Pasties, and much more! Plus, it's all cheap! So you can buy LOTS of candy!"

Ichigo and Renji looked toward each other, evil grins on their faces. Before they had left to the train station, Ukitake had given each of them some money to use for whatever they wanted, and the two shinigami were obviously going to use some of it right now.

They whispered something each other, and high-fived. Ichigo and Renji quickly jumped up, and ran out of the room.

"I wonder where those two idiots are going this time," Rukia said. Toshiro just rolled his eyes, and also said, "I don't care, as long no one gets in trouble." Little did he know, he was the reason the substitute shinigami and the lieutenant had left the compartment...

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Ichigo and Renji's POV—Running through the aisles...

"Toshiro is *so* in deep shit!" Renji exclaimed. Ichigo smirked, and replied, "Yes, revenge is a bitch!" They both let out evil cackles of laughter as the ran to the teachers' compartment.

When they arrived, they slammed open the door so hard, it shook the compartment! "Ukitake-san! Quick! Come with us!" Ichigo exclaimed as he dragged the surprised taicho out of the compartment. The other teachers stared in shock, but didn't say anything.

"What is it, Kurosaki-san?" Ukitake asked, "We were just about to enjoy a cup if tea when you barged in."

The three shinigami began to run, Ichigo and Renji leading the way, as Renji explained why they had disturbed the taicho.

"There's a candy trolley!" Renji exclaimed. Ukitake's eyes widened in shock, but he quickly recovered.

"I can buy candy for Shiro-kun!" Ukitake excitedly exclaimed. He hadn't given the taicho some candy in a while, and now was the perfect chance, with the foreign candy, and all. By then, the shinigami had arrived to Toshiro, Rukia, Ginny, Neville, and Luna's compartment. They were just in time, apparently, because the trolley had just arrived at their compartment.

Renji and Ichigo stepped back in and occupied their empty seats. Ukitake followed them, occupying an empty seat.

The trolley lady looked at everyone in a strange matter, especially at Ukitake, because he was a teacher.

"U-um," she stuttered, "what can I get for you?" Harry went first, and thought for a minute before replying.

"Can I have ten chocolate frogs, three packs of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans, a roll of Dreuble's Best Blowing Gum, and seven Pumpkin Pasties, please?" The lady handed him the said candy, and Harry paid for it.

The lady then looked toward everyone else, and asked the same question, "Candy?" Ginny bought some, but could barely afford it, Toshiro noted. When the candy seller looked toward the shinigami, Toshiro and Rukia shook their heads, while Ichigo and Renji each bought one of each type if candy. There were many types, Toshiro noted, enough to satisfy Yachiru for a whole day... Maybe he could give some to Byakuya as a sign of thanks for watching over Matsumoto and his division...

Just when the lady was about to leave, Ukitake stood up, and said, "Ma'am, can I buy the rest of your candy?" The candy lady looked startled, but nodded her head—and true to his word, Ukitake bought what candy was left. The lady left the compartment, and rolled her trolley away.

"Shiro-kun!" Ukitake exclaimed, "I bought you some candy! Here's some of these, and these—Oh! Don't forget these!" By the time the captain was done, Toshiro's arms were full of candy. It piled so high that you could barely even see the tip of his hair!

The young captain looked startled, and was about to hand it back, when Ukitake just walked out if the compartment, saying, "Bye! I'll see you later at Hogwarts!" The young taicho was stuck with the candy.

"Oh well," Toshiro thought, "I'll just give it all to Kusajishi-san."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A large amount of the train ride passed until Ron and Hermione came in and sat down. They looked frazzled and very tired.

"I'm starving," Ron said, taking some of Harry's candy, "and guess who got to be Slytherin's prefect?"

Harry looked taken-aback, and replied, "It can't be! Malfoy..?"

This time, Hermione spoke up, "And that *cow* Pansy Parkinson! I don't understand how she got picked when she's thicker that a concussed troll!"

Ichigo and Renji snickered, deciding to remember that phrase. Their thoughts were interrupted, however, when a stuck-up looking silvery-blonde stepped into the compartment.

"Potter," the blond spat out the name as if Harry was a piece of garbage.

"Malfoy," Harry spat back. "Malfoy" scowled, and entered the compartment. Two other boys stepped in after him. One was scrawny and the other was a bit on the round side. They both were scowling, too.

"How does it feel to be second best to Wealsey, Potter?" Malfoy questioned maliciously. Harry's face flushed at this statement, and Hermione yelled, "Shut up, Malfoy!"

Malfoy smirked, and then said, "I'd watch out if I were you, Potter. Because I, unlike you, are a prefect. And I, unlike you, can give detentions. If you take even *one* step out of line, I'll be *dogging* your steps, Potter."

Hermione suddenly looked worried, and Harry retorted with, "But you, unlike me, are a git. So get out, Malfoy!"

Malfoy chose to ignore this comment, and instead began to pick on the shinigami.

"And who are you?" Malfoy drawled, "And what is wrong with your hair? Wait 'till my father hears about this... What year are you in? You can't be first years. There's never been a first year taller than *me*."

Rukia, deciding to be polite, said, "We're in the fifth year, and we're transfer students from Japan."

Malfoy nodded in response to her answer, and looked at her with interest. He didn't snap back at her or make a snide remark about her. In fact, he said, "Hello, I'm Draco Malfoy. What are you doing here, sitting with these losers? Come and sit with me in my compartment!"

Rukia looked taken aback at his request, but denied it. "I'm sorry, but I am perfectly fine sitting with my friends here. And, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna aren't losers! If you wouldn't mind, please leave us alone," Rukia told Draco.

Malfoy's scowl deepened even further (if and he said, "Fine, but that will be the end if you! Just wait until my father hears about this! Crabbe, Goyle, let's go!" Malfoy and his goonies left the compartment, while Ichigo and Renji snickered to themselves.

"What's he gonna' tell his father about? That he got dumped by a girl?" Renji whispered to Ichigo. The substitute shinigami, in return, almost burst into laughter.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Tue rest of the train ride was fairly uneventful. The only thing that the shinigami and the wizards did was play Exploding Snap (well, the shingami learned how to play it) until they were almost at the Hogwarts Train Station

When they were close to Hogwarts, Hermione announced that they should get changed, and they did. They finished changing when they were just about to pull into the Hogwarts Train Station. Once they did, the shinigami saw their first glance of the huge castle known as Hogwarts.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Hermione told everyone cheerfully.

"We sure aren't in Karakura Town anymore," the shinigami then thought in response. This was going to be a mission to remember.

Sorry for the crappy chappie (LOL even at times like this, things rhyme) guys! =P I tried to make it up to you awesome readers with length, but sorry if you still hated it! Gomen nasai! *bows*

PLEASE HIT THE BIG BLUE REVIEW (LOL that rhymes too) BUTTON! YA' KNOW YA' WANNA!


	5. Chapter 5

Hi! I'm back! I AM SOOO SORRY THAT THIS CHAPPIE IS LATE; I was punished with no electronics for A WHOLE MONTH, and that really took a big chunk out of my writing time. XP

From now on—due to school, punishments, and just not enough time—I will probably only be able to update once or twice every two months. I'm sorry!

Once again, thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites! But, from now on, I will only mention those who reviewed, so REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

MANY THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS:

Furionknight

yumi-2121331

Ziya Hitsugaya

Guard-y nut

anonymoose

Light Lamperouge

Purple Galaxy

Lalaith Quetzalli

WHO2

georgina3101

Kamiya-Sensei

Light Lamerouge gets 3 packets of pocky, 3 platters of mitarashi dango, 3 mochi balls, and 3 bowls of ramen for being the 30th reviewer! Keep it up guys!

I just realized that I've been spelling "reiatsu" wrong, so I'll change that! Now, ON TO THE STORY! XD

Death At Hogwarts's Doors

Chapter 5

by Indigo (fayfan)

The shinigami had finally arrived at Hogwarts. The train had just pulled into the train station, and almost all of the students were trying to rush out to get to the magnificent castle; some of the Slytherins and most of the new, shy first years being the exceptions, of course.

Once the train had cleared, the Golden Trio, the shinigami (excluding Ukitake, he was with the teachers), Ginny, Neville, and Luna walked out of the train. Well, Luna was skipping, and singing, "We're back to Hoggy~ Hoggy~ Hoggy~ Hoggy~ Hogwarts!"

The shinigami sweatdropped at this, because they couldn't see what was so special about this place. I mean, it was a big, old castle. So what?

Once everyone had gotten out of the train, Toshiro asked where their luggage was, and Hermione replied, "It's already in the castle. They get it there by magic."

Toshiro was amazed by this, and wished that he could do that with his paperwork. It would cut down a lot of the time in his working-late-because-Matsumoto-didn't-do-her-paperwork time.

The wizards began their way to the carriages, and the shinigami followed. On the way there, they heard calls of, "First years! First years! Please come to me!"

After hearing this, Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked worridly at each other. They mentioned something about a "missing Hagrid," but continued on their way.

Once they arrived, though, Harry almost tripped over himself in shock.

The shinigami didn't know what was wrong, however; all they could see were hundreds of carriages being pulled by bony, skinless horses.

At least, what they thought were horses. The *horses'* coats clung to their bones, and the shinigami felt a strange aura being emitted from them. It was as if they were horse-shinigami, an aura of death was flowing out from them in waves.

Toshiro became worried, and thought, "That's strange... only shinigami and hollows are supposed to give out an aura of death. I'll ask Dumbledore-sama what these are later."

Toshiro continued to observe the horses, as they were beginning to stare at the shinigami, but was interrupted when Renji called out, "Oi, you there, wizards. What are those?" The fuku-taicho gestured toward the "horses."

Ron and Hermiome had puzzled looks on their faces, but Harry turned desperately toward them.

"You can see them too?" the young wizard questioned. He looked quite relieved.

"Well, yeah, he just asked you what they are. Didn't he?" Ichigo said back. What was he, stupid?

Harry glared at Ichigo, but stopped when Rukia punched Ichigo under the chin and sent him flying.

"Be nicer!" Rukia ordered. Poor Neville looked like he was about to faint, but Hermione, Ginny, and Luna looked amused. They even giggled and almost laughed.

"High five!" Ginny exclaimed toward Rukia. They slapped high fives, and stepped inside of a carriage with Hermione. Toshiro could hear them whispering about "how stupid boys were."

The young taicho frowned at this, and sent a glare toward Rukia. Rukia turned around, and nervously smiled back. Toshiro just rolled his eyes, but smirked, nonetheless.

Once the shinigami and the wizards had gotten inside the carriage and were seated, the wizards answered the shiningamis' questions of what the castle was like.

"How big is it on the inside?"

"Um... big?"

"Is there a HUGE kitchen?"

"Yeah! And house-elves do all the—"

"AHEM!"

"...Sorry, 'mione. Yeah, it's pretty big."

"How much food is there?"

"Enough to last a big, fat troll a year. Maybe even a small dragon!"

"No way! Dragons are real?"

*ahem*

Sorry, Toshiro... and Hyorinmaru... (last part whispered)

"Yeah, Harry even had to fight one last year!"

"Cool!"

*slaps high fives*

(awkward silence for the rest of the ride)

The wizards and shinigami had been riding in the carriage for about fifteen minutes, when they had finally arrived at Hogwarts's gates.

They waited in suspense for the gates to open, and when they did, the shinigami were amazed.

There was a huge lake in the back, located near a vast forest, and a *huge* willow tree that seemed a little more alive than the other surrounding trees. It was as if it were aware of everything going on around it. There were also few greenhouses located here-and-there, and even a deserted cottage, but none of this even compared to the Hogwarts castle.

The castle was huge, but even bigger up close! It was a feat of engineering. Toshiro wondered how someone could build this, even with magic. There must've been a lot of *Wingadium Leviosas* used.

The carriages stopped, and people began to get out and to make their way to the castle.

Once the shinigami had gotten out, however, they were just about to follow Harry when a stern-looking, elderly woman walked up to them. She was wearing glasses, Toshiro noted.

"Are you the new transfer students?" the lady asked. Toshiro and Rukia responded with a, "Yes ma'am," but Renji and Ichigo said, "Yeah."

The lady glared at Ichigo and Renji for their lack of manners, but said, "Good, please follow me. I am Professor McGonagall, your Transfiguration teacher, and the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. I will escort you to the headmaster's office, so please follow me."

Professor McGonagall turned around and took a step, but right before their eyes, she suddenly transformed into a cat!

"What, haven't you ever seen an animagus before?" the cat purred. It must have been Professor McGonagall, though, because it seemed to have spectacle-shaped stripes on its face, around the eyes.

"Yeah, we have," Ichigo answered her question, "but she's a lot less... formal... then you." Ichigo rolled his eyes on the "formal," and looked back at Professor McGonagall.

"What is her name?" Professor McGonagall questioned yet again, "I may know her."

Renji snickered at this, and then responded, "I highly doubt that. Her name is Shih—I mean, Yoruichi Shihōin."

The Professor looked back at Renji, as if to wonder what kind of name that was, but said, "No, I do not know your friend. Maybe we can meet sometime."

"Great idea!" Rukia exclaimed in response, "I'll just call her right—"

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Ichigo yelled as he grabbed Rukia's Soul Pager from her grasp, "You are not calling that—THAT WOMAN—over here!" Rukia stuck her tongue out at Ichigo, and frowned.

"No matter," Professor McGonagall interrupted the fight, "You will find that cellphones and other electronic devices do not work here." She had stopped speaking, however, because they had already reached the Headmaster's office.

At least, what Toshiro thought was his office. There were two stone gargoyles standing in front of an entryway, and they looked as plain as can be.

But, when Professor McGonagall said, "Lemon drops," they instantly moved, and jumped aside! Toshiro wished that he could do that with his office, but keep the password to himself. It would stop many of his constant interruptions.

"Follow me," Professor McGonagall said, briskly, as she transformed back into a human. Toshiro and Rukia followed her, however, Ichigo and Renji stayed put.

"YOU HAVE YOUR CLOTHES ON!" the two shinigami exclaimed. The Deputy Headmistress glared at them:

"Of course I do," she replied, coldly, "Why wouldn't I have any clothes on? I do have a sense of modesty, you know."

"W-well you see," Rukia stuttered, "whenever Yoruichi-sama transforms, she... doesn't have her clothes on..." Rukia blushed severely, and looked down.

Professor McGonagall paled, but continued to walk to Dumbledore's office. The shinigami followed suit.

The Deputy Headmistress knocked the brass knocker on the door, and they heard a voice from inside say, "Come in!"

The group stepped inside, and saw a room full of strange objects and an elderly man sitting behind a desk. This must've been Dumbledore-sama. They also saw Ukitake standing to his right, and a greasy-haired man standing to his left.

The room actually wasn't very different from Kurotsuchi-taicho's office, but the objects were much more pleasant, and the man behind the desk seemed kind; not at all like he wanted to dissect you.

Dumbledore smiled, and said "Welcome to Hogwarts! I've already discussed things with your superior, and he is fine with the way things are going, so far. Since you can't use electronical devices here, he said that he would send a 'Hell Butterfly,' whatever that is, to you every month for reports. Once again, welcome to Hogwarts, and I hope you enjoy your stay!"

The shinigami bowed, Ukitake included, and Toshiro said, "Thank you, Dumbledore-sama, I hope so too. Now, on the train ride, Harry and his friends mentioned something about 'houses.' What might those be?"

"Ah, the Houses," the headmaster began to explain, "There are four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff. Gryffindor was founded by Godric Gryffindor, and is for the brave and loyal. Ravenclaw was founded by Ramona Ravenclaw, and is for the intelligent and quick-witted. Slytherin was founded by Salazar Slytherin, and is known for its ambition and cunning. It is also made up mostly of purebloods—wizards who's family dates back to the beginning of the wizards and is of the highest rank in the social pyramid. Not including government officials, of course. Hufflepuff was founded by Helena Hufflepuff, and is for those who are welcoming and accepting."

The shinigami nodded their heads in understanding, but Rukia inquired, "Sir, how will we get sorted into the houses?"

Dumbledore chuckled at this, and replied, "Why, with a Sorting Hat, of course!" Seeing their puzzled expressions, he continued, "When you put the Sorting Hat onto your head, it will read your thoughts and memories, and find your deepest qualities. From there, it will yell out the name of the House you will be in, and you're done!"

"Dumbledore-sama," Toshiro started, "we have some information and personal events that cannot be disclosed to anyone but you and your most trusted colleages, much less a hat. Can't you just do it?"

Dumbledore smiled, and looked up. "No, that is the hat's duty, and the hat's duty alone. Do not fret, the hat will never tell anyone of what it saw, even if it is sliced and diced and burned. Tonight, actually, in a few minutes, there will be a Sorting Ceremony for the first years and you 'transfer students.' I believe that the hat has already sung its song, so do make haste, and hurry to the dining hall! Severus, please bring them there, but do not let them in yet. They will know when to enter."

"We will?" Ichigo asked. Rukia hit him on the head in response and said, "Baka! He'll probably announce it, or something. Just listen to him!"

Ichigo frowned, but nodded, as they followed the silent teacher to the dining hall. Once they arrived, the teacher drawled, "We are here. Don't come in until the headmaster instructs to do so. The door is big, but push a little and it will open. Maybe it will even fall, if you push it too hard. It might even crush some of those Gryffindor brats."

His obvious disdain for the Gryffindors was shown in this statement, but he continued, "That white-haired man, Professor Ukitake, I believe, will be introduced after the Sorting Ceremony. He is already seated at the head table. Goodbye now, and good luck."

"He sure didn't sound very enthusiastic," Renji commented once the teacher was far away and out of hearing range. Ichigo nodded at this statement, but Rukia frowned.

"Respect your elders and superiors, Kurosaki," Toshiro told him. However, he turned to the door and began to listen to Dumbledore's speech.

"—This year, something special is happening. We are having four new transfer students from Japan, and a transfer teacher! Please welcome: Ichigo Kurosaki, Renji Abarai, Rukia Kuchiki, and Toshiro Hitsugaya!"

"Come on! We have to go in!" Rukia exclaimed. Ichigo pushed the door open—it wasn't very heavy—and stepped inside. Renji, Rukia, and Toshiro followed suit.

The shinigami felt the weight of the students' gazes upon them, but the hall grew more welcoming when applause broke out. However, it was broken, and the shinigami noticed that most of the people were just staring.

"I bet it's the hair," Toshiro, Renji, and Ichigo thought at the same time. Rukia just smiled and waved at everyone.

The shinigami stopped walking once they had reached the front, and stood in front of a stool with an old, ragged-looking hat on it. Professor McGonagall was standing next to the stool, holding a piece of parchment.

"This must be the Sorting Hat," Toshiro thought. It didn't look very trustworthy, much less able to peer into one's mind.

"Abarai, Renji," Professor McGonagall called out. He walked over to the stool, sat on it, and put the hat on his head.

(Renji's thoughts:)

Sorting Hat: Well well, what do we have here? A shinigami! How interesting!

Renji: Who're you?

Sorting Hat: I'm the Sorting Hat, of course!

Zambimaru (Snakey): What are you doing in Renji's head? Get out!

Zambimaru (Chimpette): Calm down, Snakey.

Sorting Hat: Oh, don't mind me. I'll just look into your head a little longer to find your strongest qualities...

Zambimaru (Chimpette & Snakey): Fine

Renji: Hey, hat?

Sorting Hat: Yeah.

Renji: Just don't tell anyone about anything in my head, okay?

Sorting Hat: Of course, it is my duty to keep everyone's thoughts secret!

Renji: Okay! Just hurry up! I don't need another brain in my head with Zambimaru!

Zambimaru (Chimpette): Hey!

Zambimaru (Snakey): Shut up!

Sorting Hat: *sweatdrops*

Sorting Hat: Now... Let's see... You tend to go by your gut-feeling, even if it is wrong or breaks the rules, and you will defend what you care for to the death. You seem to care for that Rukia girl very much—

Renji: S-Shut up! *blushes*

Sorting Hat: —I think you better be in... GRYFFINDOR!

(end Renji's thoughts)

Gryffindor was shouted out for everyone to hear, and the table that was positioned under a gold & maroon banner emblazoned with a lion applauded. Their applause was very loud, and whistles and shouts if joy were even heard. Toshiro was beginning to get a headache.

"Hitsugaya, Toshiro!" Professor McGonagall called out. The said taicho walked over to the stool and sat on it. He put the hat on, and it almost covered his eyes. Thankfully, his thick hair prevented that.

(Toshiro's thoughts:)

Sorting Hat: Hm... Another shinigami... Are you all shinigami?

Toshiro: I cannot tell you.

Sorting Hat: Ah! Don't worry. It is my duty to keep the secrets of students and teachers safe. Even Dumbledore has shared sone of his secrets with me!

Toshiro: ...Fine, but prove to me that you're trustworthy.

Sorting Hat: I know that you like that girl—Hinamori, I believe was her name—and that you grew up with her.

Toshiro: U-urusai! Don't you dare lay a hand on her!

Sorting Hat: Do not worry. Like I said, I will not tell anyone this secret.

Hyorinmaru: Who's in my master's head?

Sorting Hat: Oh! Another one of those... Zanpakuto? I believe you called them?

Hyorinmaru: Get out!

Sorting Hat: Fine fine! Just let me finish my order of business here and I'll leave.

Hyorinmaru: You better. *glares*

Toshiro: Hyorinmaru, leave him be and let him do his job. If he tells anyone about us later, I'll personally let you shred him apart.

Hyorinmaru: Sounds like a good deal, master.

Toshiro: Hn.

Sorting Hat: Okay, back to what I was doing—Ah! You are a child prodigy! And even a captain! Very interesting... You seem to be very strong-willed; proud of your acomplishments and ready to defend when needed. I see that you would give your life for any of your subordinates, and you have an unwavering sense of loyalty. But, you are also very intelligent and can think on your feet. Where to put you, where to put you. Gryffindor or Ravenclaw... Gryffindor or Ravenclaw... I've decided! I think you should be in... GRYFFINDOR!

(end Toshiro's thoughts)

Once again, Gryffindor was shouted out for everyone to hear. And again, the Gryffindor table applauded as loudly as the last time. Toshiro winced because now, he was beginning to get a migraine. He hated migraines.

Toshiro walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down. He was sitting near the end, next to Renji, who was sitting next to Ron. Neville was in front of Renji, but the seat in front of Toshiro was vacant.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, when Professor McGonagall called out, "Kuchiki, Rukia!"

Rukia walked over to the stool, and sat down. Some people cat called, and others winked. Those who did these at the Slytherin table, however, recieved glares from Malfoy, and immediately stopped. Rukia just smiled back, but not to Malfoy.

Rukia put the hat on her head, and waited for something to happen. And some thing did a few moments later.

(Rukia's thoughts)

Sorting Hat: Hm... I guess you are all shinigami... Am I right?

Rukia: H-How did you find out?

Sorting Hat: I'm a Sorting Hat... I read your mind...

Rukia: Oh, yeah.

Sode no Shirayuki: Who, might I ask, are you?

Rukia: Oh! Sode no Shirayuki! Hello!

Sode no Shirayuki: Hello, Rukia. *smiles* (to Sorting Hat) What are you doing inside my master's head? *glares*

Sorting Hat: So this is your zanpakuto? Ah... She is the most beautiful out of all the zanpakuto. That is her reputation, no? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone of what I see in here. I'm honor-bound to that commitment.

Sode no Shirayuki: Fine, but do anything bad to my master, and I will shred you to pieces.

Sorting Hat: Ouch, I'm hurt! Why does everyone want to kill me today?

Rukia & Sode no Shirayuki: *rolls eyes*

Sorting Hat: Now, back to business... Hm, you have such painful memories and events inside your head... Killing Kaien Shiba,—

Rukia: *gasp* *tears up*

Sorting Hat: —getting condemned to be executed, and one of your nakama being captured by your enemy. But, you also have many happy moments.—

Rukia: *nods* ...Yeah *wipes eyes*

Sorting Hat: —When that Ichigo guy came, you gave him your powers. Even though you were arrested, he and your other nakama came and rescued you. You seem to be quite intelligent, but also very brave and strong-willed. Looks like I have to make this decision aga—

Rukia: If you wouldn't mind, please put me in Gryffindor. I would like to be with my friends, and it will help me with the mission.

Sorting Hat: Okay then, have it your way. Now, I don't have to make the descision! You will be in... GRYFFINDOR!

(end Rukia's thoughts)

Once the hat shouted out, "GRYFFINDOR!" the other tables groaned, but Gryffindor cheered even more loudly.

Rukia walked over to the Gryffindor table, and sat down next to Neville, in front of Toshiro.

"Kurosaki, Ichigo," Professor McGonagall called out one last time. Ichigo walked to the stool, sat down, and put the Sorting Hat on his head. Let the fun begin...

(Ichigo's thoughts)

Sorting Hat: I was right. You're all shinigami.

Ichigo: How did you find out?

Sorting Hat: I looked into your thoughts and memories...

Ichigo: Oh, right.

Shiro/Inner Hollow: Hey, King! Who's this guy?

Ichigo: Holy—Get out!

Shiro/Inner Hollow: But why? I just wanted to say hi... Maybe we can even have a little game of catch-and-shred!

Ichigo: No. Now get out!

Shiro/Inner Hollow: Fine. But one day I will be in control, King. And one day, we *will* play catch-and-shred!

Ichigo: *sticks out tongue* Only in your nightmares! Whew! Thank god he's gone!

Sorting Hat: I take it that wasn't your zanpakuto?

Ichigo: Nope. He's just an uneeded pain in the ass.

Sorting Hat: Who was he?

Ichigo: Look into my head. It'll be a lot easier to understand.

Sorting Hat: Oh. I see. He's your inner hollow!

Ichigo: Yup! Right on!

Sorting Hat: So, where's your zanpakuto?

Ichigo: Old man Zangetsu? I don't—

Zangetsu: Kid. I already told you. I'm not old!

Ichigo: Whatever, old man.

Zangetsu: *glares* Don't be surprised next time we have a training session and I kick your ass!

Ichigo: *wimpers* Fine!

Zangetsu: So, who are you?

Sorting Hat: The Sorting Hat.

Zangetsu: What are you doing here?

Sirting Hat: I'm just determining Ichigo's traits, and then I'll be on my way.

Zangetsu: Good, you better. If you do anything to Ichigo, I'll—

Sorting Hat: —rip me to shreds? Burn me? Eat me? I've already been threatened three times today, and it's beginning to get annoying.

Zangetsu: But it's true.

Sorting Hat: I know. Now... let's see... You are very brave. VERY brave. You would do anything for your friends, even give up your life. But, not without taking a few with you. On the other hand, however, you have that evil hollow inside of you. If you get in Slytherin, they could help you manifest it. They could help you grow stronger. Ah! But I see that you want to repress it! Maybe Slytherin wouldn't be the best choice for you. I've decided. You will be sorted into... GRYFFINDOR!

(end Ichigo's thoughts)

The Gryffindor table cheered for the last time, but this time was the time that they cheered loudest.

Ichigo stood up and walked to the Gryffindor table. He sat next to Rukia and stared hungrily at his empty plate.

Dumbledore then interrupted the shinigami's hungry thoughts by saying, "There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Dig in!"

The headmaster clapped his hands twice, and food magically appeared on the table. Renji, Ichigo, and Ron's eyes grew wide, and they began to get food from all the plates. Toshiro, Hermione, Rukia, and Harry were more civilized, however, and only got as much as they would need. The other three boys' plates were already filled to the brim with food.

"Itadakimasu!" Ichigo and Renji yelled as they began to stuff their faces full of food. Ron soon followed suit after staring at them like they were crazy.

"Wuchusa," Ron said through an mouth stuffed to the brim with food.

"Pardon?" Rukia asked Ron. Ron chewed for a few more moments, and then took a tremendous swallow.

"What did he say?" Ron asked now that his mouth was clear of food.

Toshiro answered his question, saying, "Itadakimasu. It means 'let's eat' in Japanese."

(A/N: When they choose to, the shinigami can say words or small phrases with their translation rings on. But they have to take them off to say longer things.)

"Oh," mumbled Ron through another mouthful of food. He was just about to get some more food, when Dumbledore tapped his glass with his spoon and cleared his throat. The entire student body immediately became silent and turned to face him.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but I think that it's about time for some introductions to be made. This year we will welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank as the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, and Professor Umbrige as the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. We will also—"

Dumbledore immediately stopped speaking, and at first Toshiro didn't know why, until he heard a short, fat woman clear her throat. (Hem hem) She was even standing, but it was hard to tell because of her short stature.

The woman (the young captain guessed that this was Professor Umbridge) was wearing pink. Lots of pink. She had pink slippers, a pink skirt, a pink cardigan, and a horrible pink Alice-band that looked ugly with her cardigan. She looked like the aunt you never wanted. She looked like she was going to make everyone puke.

"Hello dears," Professor Umbridge said in a high, girly voice, which not even Toshiro expected, "It is so nice to be back in Hogwarts, and to see smiling, happy faces looking at me! The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young, talented wizards and witches, such as yourselves, of vital importance. You must use your gifts wisely, and for the sake of the wizarding world, you must learn to the best of your extent. So, the Ministry of Magic has planned a series of courses for you to take that will cause you no harm and will be educating. For we must prune what practices that ought to be prohibited. We must obey the rules and change what ought to be changed. We must discontinue progress for the sake of progress." The Professor finished her speech, and sat back down.

(A/N: I know that wasn't exactly right, and it was very short, but who wants to listen to Umbridge's speech anyway?)

This speech just worsened Toshiro's migrane even further. That lady just didn't know when to shut up! She just droned on and on... It sounded like even a hollow couldn't have interrupted her!

After her speech, a few teachers and students clapped, but only once or twice. And, the applause was broken. However, Ukitake—being his good-natured self—and Dumbledore clapped longer than everyone else. The students then began to stare at Ukitake.

"Thank you for this... informing... speech," Dumbledore said, "As I was saying, we have one more Professor to introduce. As you may have noticed, Professor Ukitake," Dumbledore gestured toward Ukitake, "is the transfer teacher from Japan.—"

Ukitake smiled and waved when he said this, but most of the people just stared at his hair.

"—He will be teaching you 'Kenjutsu,' an acient form of sword fighting. Of course, you will only use dull bamboo swords covered with leather and certain, controlled forms called 'katas,' so you most likely will not be hurt. Please be nice to him, and help him if he asks you a question. You will get the details of Kenjutsu during his class. Now, you may leave to your dormitories."

The clatter of people getting out of their chairs resounded throughout the hall as Dumbledore dismissed the students. The shinigami and the Golden Trio got up, and were about to leave to the dormitories, when Hermione remembered something.

"Oh! Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, "We have to guide the first years! I can't believe that I forgot!"

Ron nodded, and exclaimed across the table, "You lot! Over there! Midgets!

"Ron! You can't call them midgets!" Hermione scolded.

"Well, they are. They're titchy!" Ron defended.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and instructed how to do it. "First years! First years! Come to us!" she called.

Toshiro rolled his eyes at their lack of leadership skills. If this were his division and someone didn't come when they were called, they would've been punished.

As the first years walked by, he didn't soften his permanent almost-glare-face, so the new students looked in fright at him; but Harry smiled, and Toshiro noticed that they appeared even more scared at the smiling Harry than the scowling Toshiro. Something wasn't right there, because he had been told that his scowl is quite scary.

Ichigo and Rukia put on a smile, because they knew how big of an influence a first introduction could have on little kids, and the first years looked relieved as they passed by.

They got scared again, however, when they passed by Renji. Renji was scowling, and his tatooed eyebrows made it look all the more scarier.

The young captain's thoughts were interrupted, however, when Harry suddenly walked away. Toshiro could tell that he was in a depressed mood.

"I hope he feels better soon," Toshiro thought, as his eyebrows raised just the slightest. Matsumoto would've been proud.

Switch to Ichigo's POV...

Ichigo was smiling at the new students, when Harry walked away.

"Shoot," the substitute shinigami thought, "better follow him."

Ichigo ran over to Rukia, and told her, "I'm gonna follow Harry, so if the others wonder where I am, just tell them that." Rukia nodded, as Ichigo began to run to Harry.

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"Hey! Wait up!" Ichigo called as he reached Harry. It had taken him a while to get out of the Great Hall, because of all the crowded students, and Harry was almost halfway to the dorms.

Even after Ichigo had shouted for him to wait up, Harry stayed silent, and continued to walk away. This just made Ichigo run faster, to catch up with him.

"Look, what's wrong?" the substitute shinigami asked the wizard.

Even after that, Harry continued to stay silent; but after a few moments, he replied, "Go away. You won't be able to help me."

Ichigo stayed silent for a few moments, but then stated, "I can always try. Just tell me what's wrong, and I'll give it a shot."

Harry rolled his eyes, but explained, "Everyone thinks that I'm a wack-job and that I'm not straight because of the Daily Prophet."

Ichigo rubbed his chin as a sign of understanding, and then said, "Yup, that's pretty tough."

Harry still looked fine after the substitute shinigami said this, so Ichigo thought that he was all right now; but the wizard suddenly exploded, "WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW? NO ONE TREATS *YOU* LIKE YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR MIND! YOU DIDN'T SEE CEDRIC DIGGORY DIE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! YOU'VE NEVER SEEN YOU-KNOW-WHO FACE TO FACE! YOUR PARENTS WEREN'T MURDERED! YOU—"

Harry suddenly stopped shouting, because Ichigo had grabbed his robes by the collar, and pulled him up.

"Kid, don't say *anything* about what a person knows or doesn't know until you are sure that it's true. I'm considered a wierdo and bully where I come from because of my hair color, age, and just the overall way I look. I've seen *plenty* of people murdered right before my eyes, and I wasn't able to do a shit about it. In fact, I've almost been murdered so many times that I've lost count. I don't really know who You-Know-Who is, all I know is that he is some super-powerful wizard whose name is Voldemort; but I'm pretty sure that Aizen is *SO* much scarier than this guy. Aizen could probably make Moldy-Shorts piss his pants without even *trying.* Then, his shorts would *really* become moldy."

Ichigo paused for a moment there before continuing, "How old were you when your parents were murdered?"

"I-I was just a baby," Harry stuttered in reply. Ichigo nodded.

"I thought so," the substitute shinigami said, "You definitely couldn't say that about me. My father and younger sisters are alive and well, but my mother was murdered. Right before my eyes. I was four years old, and you know what? I bet you can't remember that time, but I can. I was just old enough to begin to understand the world around me when it happened, so I still remember every last detail. I won't tell you the details, but I remember everything that was around me at that time; every sound, every detail, every feeling. In fact, it still haunts my nightmares. But you know what? You have to move on. If there's one thing I've learned since that incident, it's to not dwell in the past. Move on; you have perfectly alive and well people here to occupy that empty space. Don't dwell on what you can or can't do. Focus on the present. Live you're life to its fullest, and act so that you won't regret what you did later."

Once Ichigo had finished talking, Harry stared in shock. He stayed silent, however, and continued to walk. Ichigo followed suit, as they continued to make their way to the Gryffindor dormitories.

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After walking for a while and reaching the fat lady's portrait, Harry realized that he didn't know the new password. Ichigo and him were locked outside.

They were saved, however, when Neville came running to them, and said in an exhausted breath, "I know the password! This time, I might actually be able to remember it. Mimbulus Mimbletonia!"

After he said those two words, the painting slid aside—much to Ichigo's surprise—and let them in.

The common room was quite large. It was painted in red and gold, and red and gold tapestries with the Gryffindor lion hung on the walls. There were comfortable-looking seats and couches all across the room with coffee tables in front of them; great for students' studies and homework. There was a large fireplace at the front of the room, and it was currently radiating heat.

"Toshiro is really going to hate that fireplace," Ichigo thought.

There were two staircases along the edges of the room, and they led to two other rooms. Ichigo guessed that these led to the dormitories.

Ichigo's thoughts were interrupted, however, when Harry began to say something.

"Look," Harry began to apologize, "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't know about... well, you know... How about we call a truce?"

"Okay," Ichigo said back, "I'll accept your apology if you promise not to judge people before you you get to fully know them."

"Deal," Harry sealed the deal, as the wizard and the substitute shinigami shook hands.

"And," Ichigo began, "please don't tell the others about this. Toshiro will have my head if he finds out I grabbed your collar and yelled at you. Also, I'm not quite sure why I'm telling you this, and *especially* don't tell the others I told you this; but I'm the only one of us transfer students who actually *has* a parent. Renji, Rukia, and Toshiro don't have any parents. Well, Rukia has an older brother who will have the heads of anyone who tries to flirt with her. Me included. *nervous chuckle* Yeah... Just don't tell the others about anything that I told you. Okay?"

Harry nodded his head as a sign of understanding, but stared at him in confusion, and led Ichigo off to the edge of the room; as people were beginning to enter the room.

Ichigo noticed that Harry waved at quite a few people (he seemed like he knew them) but only a few returned the wave. The others just glared at him, looked scared, or ignored him.

Harry walked over to one of them—Seamsus, he was called—and said hi. Seamsus nervously said, "Hi," back, but continued to talk to one of his friends. Ichigo stayed at a distance, but continued to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Me mam didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts this year," Seamsus was telling one of his friends.

"Why?" Harry asked Seamsus. Seamsus stayed silent. That wasn't a good sign.

Seamsus stayed quiet for a moment longer before replying, "I suppose... because of you."

"What?" Harry exclaimed back, "She believes the Daily Prophet? She believes that I'm crazy and that Dumbledore's an old fool?"

"Well... I s'pose so," Seamsus mumbled, "Um... What really happened on the night with, you know... Cedric?"

"Why don't you just read the Daily Prophet like your mummy? They'll tell you what happened!" Harry retorted.

This angered Seamsus, and he shouted back, "Don't have a go at my mother!"

"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar!" Harry yelled, almost screamed.

"Guys, guys! What's wrong?" Ron asked, as he and Hermione had entered the room after escorting the first years to their dorms.

"He's having a go at my mother!" Seamsus told Ron.

Ron looked puzzled, and told him back, "We liked your mother. Remember, Harry?"

Harry glared at Seamsus as he exclaimed, "Not until she started to read the Daily Prophet!"

"What?" Ron shouted.

"Yeah, that's right!" Harry yelled back.

"Don't tell me you believe this freak!" Seamsus exclaimed at Ron, who in turn scowled.

"Yeah, I do!" Ron defended Harry.

"Well, you're all freaks!" Seamsus insulted as he looked at the two of them.

"Yeah? Well, unlucky for you, I'm also a prefect! And I can give you detention!" Ron threatened.

Seamsus rolled his eyes one last time as he scowled and walked away. The bystanders and witnesses of the argument were staring fearfully at Harry, and they were beginning to walk away to their dorms.

"Man, these wimps!" Ichigo thought. He actually expected the wizards to be a little braver than this, but they obviously weren't meeting the substitute shinigami's expectations.

Harry stormed into his dorm, and Ron and Ichigo followed him. Ichigo noticed that the three of them, Renji, and Neville shared a dorm.

Harry crawled into bed, only stopping to pull his pajamas out from his trunk, and shut his privacy curtain. Ichigo and Ron decided not to bother him, but also changed into their own pajamas.

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Toshiro: Screw this... there's a fireplace...

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Ichigo and Ron had just finished changing when Renji and Toshiro entered the room.

"Hey, where's Harry?" Renji asked. He looked around the room, but didn't find any sight of him, other than his trunk.

"He's in that bed over there," Ichigo gestured to Harry's bed, "but don't talk to him. He's kinda' in a bad mood right now."

Toshiro nodded, and Renji replied, "Sure."

Once they had all changed and gotten into bed, the boys immediately fell asleep. It had been a long day, after all, but no one dreamed of anything during their slumbers.

Sorry, guys, if the last part seemed kind of rushed! I wanted to update for you all, so here it is! Once again, please...

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REVIEW, YA' KNOW YA' WANNA!

Thanks again for reading!

~Indigo Fox

P.S. All you Ukitake and (SPOILER ALERT!) Sogyo no Kotowari fans out there will love the next chappie! X3


	6. Chapter 6

How long has it been... like, four months? *dodges thrown trash and angry mobs of readers* Heh heh... This time, I really don't have an adequate excuse for such a late update... =( See, even I'm making myself sad at how late I've updated! D'= Oh well, here it is now!

MANY THANKS TO THE REVIEWERS...

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Thanks again for all the great reviews! X3 And thanks for all the follows and favorites, too! =D

ZoeyExtreme gets FIVE packets of Pocky, FIVE bowls of Ramen, and FIVE platters of Mitarashi Dango for being the 50th reviewer! XD Plus, a cookie of their choice, free of charge! X3

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Once again, I can't express how much gratitude I have toward y'all, and how you've turned this fic from fresh-out-of-the-bucket to a 60-review fanfic! XD Reviews are the good stuff in life for a writer's soul! X3

So, anyway... ON TO THE STORY! X3

Death at Hogwart's Doors

Chapter 6

by Indigo (fayfan)

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The next morning, Ichigo woke up after having a dreamless night. It was quite early in the morning, but the substitute shinigami noticed that everyone else was beginning to wake up, too.

Ichigo sat up, stretched, and yawned. He got out of bed and began to change into his uniform.

"Oi, strawberry, what time is it?" a sleepy Renji suddenly asked. Ichigo checked his watch, and said, "First of all, it's Ichigo, not strawberry; and it's 6:30 in the morning."

Renji also got up after hearing the time, and Harry and Ron soon followed.

However, Renji wasn't done getting ready for the day when Harry and Ron woke up, and Ron asked Renji, "Is your hair *braided?*"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Renji replied, glaring, while tying his hair into his regular spiky ponytail.

"Not really..." Ron answered back, not knowing how to come back particular question without getting beaten in some way.

"You better," Renji finished.

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After leaving the dorm and entering the common room, Ichigo and Renji noticed an ad posted up on the Griffindor Notice Board. It said:

GALLONS OF GALLEONS!

Pocket money failing to keep pace with your outgoings?

Like to learn a little extra gold?

Contact Fred and George Weasley,

Gryffindor common room,

for simple, part-time, virtually painless jobs

(We regret that all work is undertaken at applicant's own risk)

They had just finished reading the notice when Hermione and Rukia walked out from the girls' dorms. Hermione walked over to them, but frowned after reading the notice. Rukia soon followed, but ignored the poster.

"We need to stop them, Ron," Hermione demanded soon after. However, instead of agreeing with her, Ron quickly shook his head.

Hermione frowned, and took the poster off of the notice board. The date for the first Hogsmeade visit in October was right under it.

"Hey," Ron started to ask the shinigami, "are you guys going to Hogsmeade with the rest of us?"

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders, but didn't even know what the heck they were talking about.

Thankfully, this was explained because Renji then asked, "What's 'Hogsmeade?'"

Ron looked shocked, and stood frozen, but Hermione answered, "It's a wizarding village that's kind of like a mini Diagon Alley, but without clothing and supply stores. There are some bars, a candy shop, and a joke store. It's quite fun going there, actually, like a field trip!"

The shinigami nodded their heads in unision, even though they didn't quite understand it. They would just ask Ukitake-taicho or Dumbledore later.

"It's good that they have some bars; I need a good, long drink," Renji sighed after Hermione's explanation. If only Shuuhei, Ikakku, and Rangiku were here...

Hermione looked like she was about to say something more, but stopped after looking at Harry. He was still angry at Seamus and the others who thought he was mad.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked the wizard. Harry rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Seamus reckons I'm crazy," he quietly replied. Hermione stayed silent for a moment after hearing this, but soon said something.

"So does Lavender," she quickly replied.

"Was that that snotty girl who wouldn't shut up?" Rukia asked Hermione, obviously annoyed with the said person.

Hermione nodded in reply, but was interrupted when Harry snapped, "Been having a nice little chat with her about whether I'm crazy or not?"

Hermione was about to defend herself, but was interrupted when Toshiro said, "Potter, respect your friends. Don't snap at them so suddenly."

Harry glared at him, but Hermione smiled in thanks. "Actually, Rukia and I told her to keep her big mouth shut," Hermione defended herself.

Harry's eyes widened, and he didn't say anything more. His facial expression turned from one of anger, to one of sadness.

"Sorry," the wizard apologized.

"It's okay," Hermione accepted the apology.

"But," Harry turned to Toshiro, "please don't call me 'Potter,' it's Harry. And, that's what *Malfoy* calls me. Harry's face screwed up when he said Malfoy.

Toshiro just chuckled, and began to walk off to the Great Hall. Everyone else followed in haste, and soon arrived.

(skips breakfast, which included a who-can-eat-the-most-food competition, many sweatdrops, a bowl of porridge, and Toshiro's face; got the picture?)

After teasing Toshiro enough about getting porridge all over his face, Ichigo, Renji, and the others finished eating and waited until the time tables were handed out by Proffessor McGonagall.

After their time tables were handed out, Harry and Ron groaned, while the shinigami stared at them, puzzled.

"What's wrong?" Rukia asked the two wizards. It couldn't be that bad, could it?

"We have History of Magic, Double Potions, Divination, and Double Defense Against the Dark Arts!" Harry exclaimed.

"Binns, Snape, Trelawny, and that Umbridge woman all in one day!" Ron groaned.

"Come on, it can't be that bad! It can't be half as bad as Byakuya's lectures!" Ichigo reasoned.

Renji nodded his head in agreement, and Rukia punched them both. Hard.

"Byakuya? Who's that wierdo?" Ron questioned the shinigami. Rukia walked over to him, too, and also punched him. (The teachers decided to ignore both of these; they were transfer students, right? Maybe they had a culture different from the British one...)

"What was that for?" Ron wailed.

"Don't *EVER* insult nii-sama in front of me," Rukia replied, glaring.

"Byakuya is Rukia's older brother, you know, the one who would have the heads of anyone who tries to flirt with Rukia..?" Ichigo explained.

"Dont speak badly about Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki," Toshiro said, scowling, "He wouldn't 'have your head.'"

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Rokubantai (Sixth Division) Headquarters: Main Office: Byakuya's POV:

"Achoo!"

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Ichigo thought for a moment before replying, "You know what, you're right! He would slice you into a million pieces with Senbonzakura, throw us into a burning pit until we become nothing but ashes, and then feed us to his giant koi!"

Toshiro face-palmed, while Ichigo and Renji snickered at him. Rukia just shook her head.

"What's 'Senbonzakura?'" Hermione suddenly asked, as the shinigami had almost forgotten the wizards' presences.

"Umm..." Rukia stuttered, quickly trying to come up with an excuse, "It's his special sword. You'll probably learn about them in Ukitake-sensei's class."

"Oh," she replied, obviously not satisfied with the answer. No matter, she could wait.

She looked back at her time table for no obvious reason, just to check her classes, but noticed something.

There was a line of tiny print at the bottom of her page, and she examined it closer. It said "Kenjutsu" classes. They were also going to have Professor Ukitake today!

"Hey, guys!" she quickly exclaimed, "Look at the bottom of your time table! Is there a line of tiny print there?"

The shinigami, Harry, and Ron looked at the bottom of their time tables, and there was some tiny print on the bottom of all of them!

They all examined it, and found out that they had Kenjutsu classes, too. They would have Ukitake on their first day!

"We have taicho today!" Rukia exclaimed, clearly excited with the outcome. This was going to be a great day!

Scratch that; so far, the day was boring.

Just recently, the shinigami and wizards had finished History of Magic. It was probably the most boring class ever! On the "Boring Scale," it was somewhere in between the Shinigami Acadamy and Byakuya's speeches.

Professor Binns had caused many-a-wizard (and some of the shinigami) to fall asleep in the first ten minutes of his class. Three for Ichigo and Renji. Only Hermione, Rukia, and Toshiro were able to resist the soporific tone of his voice.

Once the class ended, Ichigo and Renji literally fell down on their knees and thanked whatever deity they could think of. Too bad they had this class for the rest of the year...

They were currently in the Potions dungeon, waiting for the Professor.

"Hey, guys," Ichigo asked to no one in particular, "who is the Professor for this class, anyway?" Ichigo heard that this class was very scary and quite unfair; all because of the Professor.

Ron answered his question, "Blimey! You haven't heard? It's Professor Snape! He's probably the meanest git out of all the teachers, and he's the head of all those bloody Slytherins!"

"...Oh..." Ichigo mumbled. He didn't sound very scary...

However, the substitute shinigami's thoughts were interrupted when a man (he looked familiar) walked into the room. Immediately, the class fell silent.

"Ah! I got it!" Ichigo thought, with a lightbulb practically floating over his head, "He was the guy who escorted us to the Great Hall on our first day here! I could probably take him on in a fight... Even Byakuya is scarier than him!"

"Good morning, class," Professor Snape drawled in his usual deep, dark voice, interrupting Ichigo's thoughts, "Today, we will make the Draught of Peace. It is a difficult potion you will probably see on your O.W.L., and can lure the drinker into a calm, dreamless sleep,—"

"I think I need one of those," Ichigo thought.

"—But be warned, if brewed incorrectly, it might even lure the drinker into an incurable eternal sleep. So, don't be heavy handed with your ingredients, as I will take only the best into my N.E.W.T. class. You must scrape an Acceptable or higher on your O.W.L... or suffer my... displeasure,—"

In the back, Neville squeaked in fright, and the shinigami saw a few people look like they were about to faint.

"—But until that happy moment of farewell, we must deal with each other. You will find your directions on the board — (he flicked his wand and the directions appeared on the board) — the ingredients in the cupboard — (he flicked his wand again, and the cupboard doors opened) — and the clock ticking. You may begin."

Of course, Snape couldn't have given them a harder potion to start the year with. You had to follow the directions in *exactly* the right order, or the potion would be useless. This was going to be a hard day...

With only 10 minutes until the end of class, Snape said, "By now, a light, silvery vapor should be rising from your potion."

Ichigo stared desperately at whatever he made, and found that his potion was as thick as putty. But it was crawling. Up the side of his cauldron. On it's own.

Clearly disturbed, the substitute shinigami looked around him to see what everyone else had made.

Renji, who was beside him, had made a rock-solid formation the color pink. It wouldn't even come off the side of his cauldron!

"It's as hard as your head!" Ichigo teased him.

Renji glared at him, but retorted, "Well, yours is as thick as you (as in insensitive, not fat)!"

The two immediately went into a glare fight, but soon stopped when Toshiro glared at the both of them. It was decided; Toshiro was the winner.

There were only two people in the room who had prepared the potion correctly: Hermione and Toshiro. Rukia's potion was close, but it had the slightest tinge of black in it. Harry and Ron were no better off then Ichigo and Renji, and the rest of the class didn't seem much better, either.

Ichigo noticed Snape walk over to Harry, and turned to watch the two of them.

"What is this, Potter?" Snape asked him with a sharp tone.

"The Draught of Peace, sir," Harry answered. His potion was spewing black smoke. Didn't look much like the Draught of Peace...

"Can you read, Potter?" Snape asked, glaring. In the back of the room, Malfoy and some Slytherins laughed.

"Yes sir," Harry responed, clenching his fists.

"Reread line four, Potter. What did you forget?"

Harry read the line to himself, and frowned. He then said, "I forgot the syrup of hellebore, sir."

"What again? A little bit louder this time," Snape ordered.

"I forgot the syrup of hellebore," Harry said in a I-was-so-stupid-how-could-I-forget voice.

"Correct. That means this mess is utterly useless. *Evanesco,*" Snape drawled one last time, Harry's potion disappearing immediately after the said spell, "All the rest of you who managed to make acceptable potions, fill a flask with your potion and turn it in to my desk."

Everyone got up and filled a flask with their potion. Even Renji was able to scrape some of his out. His wasn't the worst one, however. When one of Malfoy's goons put some of his potion in a flask, it immediately shattered and caught his robes on fire.

When this happened, Ichigo and Renji snickered, but immediately stopped when Snape walked over to them.

"What is so funny, boys?" Snape asked.

"Your face," Renji replied. Ichigo and Renji began to snicker even more at this, but Snape just glared at him.

"Since you're new here, I'll let you off with a warning. Do it again, however, and suffer my... displeasure..."

The whole class immediately stopped whatever they were doing, and froze in their tracks. No one had ever talked back to Snape before!

"Thos spineless weenies," Ichigo thought; but he said to Snape, "Yes ma'am!" Even Byakuya was scarier than him!

Snape glared at him one last time before turning around and saying, "Class dismissed."

The wizards and shinigami were currently on their way to Divination — having already separated with Hermione since she had Arithmancy instead — and were almost at the tower it took place in.

"So, what exactly *is* Divination?" Renji asked Harry and Ron, carefully avoiding the topic of "Potions." Most of the school already heard about it, and they had just been transitioning between classes!

The two wizards rolled their eyes, and Ron answered, "The most *boring* and *meaningless* class you could ever imagine!"

Harry completed the answer with, "It's taught by Professor Trelawney, the most paranoid teacher of all! Divination is basically predicting your future. Hermione left because she just got so fed up with the class and the way the Professor taught. That's why she's going to Arithmancy."

"What do you do in that class?" Toshiro suddenly asked.

"Well," Harry began, "we do things like looking into a crystal ball to see our future; drinking tea, and predicting our future from the shapes formed by the tea leaves; dream interpreting; and a bunch of other useless stuff."

"That doesn't sound too bad!" Rukia commented. I mean, it could be worse, right?

Harry and Ron shook their heads, and Ichigo and Renji stated simply, "You've got to be kidding me..."

Rukia glared at the two shinigami and 'hmph'ed, while Toshiro said, "There's tea? Good. Now I actually have a reason to come to the class... All I'll be there for is the tea..."

"Ah, finally," the young captain thought, "tea at last..." While eating breakfast and dinner in the great hall, he noticed there were very few foods that he was familiar with, and the only dish there that he regularly ate was rice. That sucked.

"Toshiro," Ichigo started, interrupting the said taicho's thoughts, "stressed, much, aren't you? I didn't know that *Shiro-kun* could become so stressed!"

"Shut up, Kurosaki," Toshiro replied, "and it's Hitsugaya-taicho!"

Ichigo and Renji just laughed at this, and said, "Well... you'll always be Ukitake-sensei's and Momo-san's 'Shiro-chan!'"

Toshiro glared at him, and waited until the wizards' backs were turned, until he said, "You know, Hyorinmaru and I are feeling a *little* jumpy today, and cutting up some underlings could really help our mood..."

While saying this, the young taicho stroked his zanpakutō, which was hidden underneath the back of his robes, and glared at Ichigo and Renji.

The two shinigami stepped back in fright, and Renji stuttered, "N-no..!" while Ichigo completed the statement with, "You didn't!"

But their suspicions were confirmed: Toshiro had brought his zanpakutō with him.

"Don't tell me," Toshiro started, clearly irked, "that you forgot your zanpakutō?"

Renji and Ichigo nodded sheepishly in reply, and Toshiro facepalmed.

"Even Kuchiki remembered!" the young taicho exclaimed.

Ichigo and Renji quickly glanced at Rukia's back, and saw the slight indentation of a sword. She *had* brought it!

"Damn," Renji swore. They were in for it now...

Ichigo was having similar thoughts, so he decided to safely change the topic of the conversation.

"You know," Ichigo began, "I bet'cha that this 'Divination' class isn't half as bad as Byakuya's lectures..."

Renji nodded in reply, and commented, "You don't even know the half of it since you're not his fuku-taicho..."

"True enough, true enough..." Ichigo replied.

However, the two shinigami were interrupted when Rukia suddenly slammed into their heads with a flying kick, and exclaimed, "As I said earlier, *don't* insult Nii-sama!"

The two soul reapers painfully rubbed their heads, while Ron suddenly asked, "Who's 'Byakuya' again? I feel like I've heard that name before... And that's a pretty stupid name, if you ask me..."

After hearing this, Rukia jumped off of Ichigo's and Renji's backs, and instead sent another flying kick (which was aimed towards Ron this time), which hit the exact middle of it's mark.

"I'll say this again: don't *ever* insult Nii-sama in front of me!" Rukia exclaimed yet again.

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Rokubantai Headquarters: Main Office: Byakuya's POV

"Achoo!" What is up with me today..?

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"Okay, okay! Bloody, I just said he had a wierd name! (*another kick to the head*) Ouch! Blimey! What is your foot made of, metal? (*another kick*) Damn, that hurt! All I want to know is what the hell a 'Byakuya' is!"

"Rukia," Ichigo began, "first of all, get off Ron.—"

Rukia glared at the young Weasley one last time before stepping off of him, while the young wizard sighed in relief.

"—Second, Byakuya is Rukia's older brother. You know, the one that I said this morning would have the heads of anyone who even *tries* to flirt with Rukia?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded in reply at this (somehow, they had already forgotten who he was), and continued walking. They all soon arrived at the Divination Tower.

"So, this is the Divination classroom..." Toshiro thought as they ascended the silvery ladder which led up to the Divination classroom.

Once they had gotten up the ladder and stepped into the classroom, Toshiro thought, "Damn!" when he saw the fireplace. It was huge! And not only that; it was even spewing disgusting, colorful fumes out into the air, which spread throughout the classroom.

What a nice day (note the sarcasm). In Toshiro's opinion, it was so horrid that his migraine was beginning to worsen — if that was even humanly possible!

However, his thoughts were averted when he saw his usual seating— cushions — spread out throughout the room. The young taicho had been sitting on a hard chair all day, and was quite pleased to have his usual seating arrangement back. Maybe there *was* something good about this classroom, after all!

The cushions that were spread out throughout the room were arranged into pairs, each pair sharing a table. Harry and Ron took their seats at a table, while Ichigo and Renji took one for themselves, and Toshiro and Rukia sat down at another unoccupied table.

"Well," Rukia started, "I guess we just wait for the teacher to come."

The shinigami hadn't spoken a moment too soon. As soon as she finished the sentence, a woman that was covered in beads and other pieces of jewelry walked into the room.

"She must be Professor Trelawney," Toshiro thought, "Well, she doesn't even look like a teacher; she looks more like a giant bug with all of those colorful pieces of jewelry and that large pair of glasses that magnify her eyes."

It was true; she did look like a giant bug. Many of the students — past and present — had thought so, and many more to come would too.

"Good morning, class!" the 'giant bug' greeted, "To those of you who don't already know, I am Professor Trelawney; your wonderful guide to the art of Divination — predicting the future and interpreting dreams!—"

"What a load of bull," Renji whispered to Ichigo, while the substitute shinigami snickered in response. However, no one heard this but the two troublemakers.

"—But to all, I see that you have come safely back to Hogwarts — as I knew you would — and that you are taking the wonderful art of Divination once more — as I also knew you would!—"

"Is this woman crazy?" Toshiro thought while looking at the Professor with a cold glint in his eyes.

"—As you students probably know," the Professor continued, "this is your O.W.L. year, which means you have exams for Divination! But of course, the results for your exam don't really matter because you either have the Seeing Eye... or you don't."

Professor Trelawney stopped for a dramatic pause before continuing, "Now today, class, I want you to first read the introduction of your textbook the *Dream Oracle,* by Inigo Imago, and then use the *Dream Oracle* to determine your partner's most recent dreams! Please start!"

As soon as she said this, the class immediately took out their copies of the *Dream Oracle* and began to read the introduction. This had taken up most of the class time, so that only left a little time for dream interpretation.

"So," Rukia began, "I know that this has nothing to do with dream interpretation, Hitsugaya-taicho, but I had an idea. I was wondering if we could call each other our first names instead of our last names and titles, but just for the sake of the mission. I know that you probably hate the idea, Hitsugaya-taicho, but I just thought it would be good for the mission..."

Toshiro pondered this for a moment. Of course he hated the idea! He had enough trouble with these crazy Brits and their messed-up traditions! But the mission always came first — whether he liked it or not. And no tenth division member (from the captain to even the lowest members) would *ever* put themselves before the mission! At least not while he was taicho!

Toshiro nodded his head once, before approving the idea with, "That's a good idea... We can tell Kurosaki and Abarai about it later after class."

After hearing the young captain's approval, Rukia's face was practically beaming with pride as she said, "Thank you, Toshiro!" She was already beginning her idea.

However, Toshiro rolled his eyes and glared at her, while ridiculing, "*But,* not until after this class! Understand?"

Rukia quickly nodded her head in reply, while saying, "Yes, Hitsugaya-taicho!" to show that she understood.

"So..." Rukia continued soon after, "I guess we'll have to make up what we dreamt about, since I only dream about Chappy, and I doubt they have anything about that in the *Dream Oracle.*"

"Yeah... I suppose so," Toshiro replied. This was going to be a bit troublesome...

"Well," the young taicho began again, "I guess I'll say that I dreamt about riding upon a dragon's back — it'll be at least partially true because of Hyorinmaru — and you can dream about something with rabbits since you said you dream about... Chappy..."

Frankly, Chappy was one of the few things that just plainly freaked out Toshiro. It was a pink bunny that you could draw into other people! What was creepier than that? Well, at least that was the young taicho's reasoning.

"Well..." Rukia interrupted the young captain's thoughts, "I suppose that I will say that I dreamt about running in a field full of bunnies! Yes, that is what I will say!" She made a 'half-guts' pose for emphasis.

"Okay," Toshiro replied, "now we just have to write that down and interpret it though our textbooks..."

After the two shinigami wrote down what they 'dreamt' about, they opened up their textbooks to the section entitled 'Dream Interpretation.'

However, after interpreting their 'dreams,' the two death gods wondered what was wrong with these wizards and how they could have such vulgar interpretations.

"What the..?" Rukia thought soon after, "This crazy book says that I will 'eat a piece of rabbit jerky at dinner tonight!' I love rabbits, so I would never do that!"

However, the shinigami was interrupted out of her thoughts when she saw Toshiro's book becoming layered with ice; page by page.

"Umm... Hitsugaya-taicho?" Rukia started, "What's wrong? Just give me the book, and calm down. You're freezing it, and people are beginning to stare...

The young captain sent a menacing glare toward the young wizards before indignantly exclaiming, "This book says that I will 'use a dragon heartstring in a potion in the next upcoming week!' I would never do that! Doing that would have the equivalent to dissecting Hyorinmaru's heart, which would be betraying him!"

Knowing the bond between a master and their zanpakutō, Rukia nodded, but gave him back the book which had thawed after being held.

"Oh well," Toshiro said, "I hardly believe that this book is true, anyway. And besides, on the slim chance that these *do* happen, we'll know what we're in for!"

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Nothing exciting happened for the rest of the class, other than Ichigo calling Professor Trelawny a "crazy old whore," which she kindly ignored, and then Renji calling the *Dream Oracle* a "piece of shit," which she also ignored; but not without a few tick marks.

The wizards and shinigami had just finished Divination, and were currently on their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. DADA, for short.

"Blimey!" Ron exclaimed as they neared the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, "Fred and George weren't kidding when they said that we would be loaded up with homework in our O.W.L. year! We already have a foot-long essay on giant wars from Binns, a 12 inch essay on the properties of moonstone and it's uses in potion making from Snape, and a month's Dream Diary from Trelawny! That Umbridge woman better not give us any... I'm already full for the next week!"

Toshiro sighed in reply to this, and said, "This isn't that much. Back home — I won't tell you the details — I had to do about thirty times this much! Every. Day. To me, this is like having a small vacation!"

The wizards' eyes widened at this, and they were currently having WTF/O.O looks on their faces. They couldn't understand how someone as small and young as him could live with that much work.

"Those poor, deprived children," Toshiro thought, "Now, if Matsumoto were here with me, this really *would* be a vacation. Then I wouldn't have to worry about the division going bankrupt or getting destroyed via druk Matsumoto. Too bad she couldn't come... No, wait. I COMPLETELY take that back...—"

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Jyuubantai (Tenth Division) Headquarters...

Matsumoto's POV:

"Ano... I wish that I was with taicho right now!" the Jyuubantai fuku-taicho exclaimed loudly to herself. It was a nice day, but her taicho wasn't there to make it fun.

However, her thoughts were interrupted when her division's fourth seat (the third seat was in the fourth division's hospital due to overwork and stress) said, "More sake, Matsumoto fuku-taicho?"

"Yes, please!" she replied. She could always miss her taicho, but there was nothing like a good ol' bottle of sake to cheer you up!

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"—It would be better that my division get destroyed by that lazy drunkard than this school... I doubt that would fare well with the wizards," Toshiro finished thinking.

Right after this thought, however, the wizards and shinigami arrived at the DADA classroom and entered. Toshiro noticed that Professor Umbridge was already seated in her desk.

She was wearing the same attire as the night before, which was a fluffy pink cardigan and a black velvet bow. The young taicho thought that she looked like a large frog with a fat fly sitting unwisely on her head.

The wizards and shinigami took their seats near each other, and proceeded to wait for class to start. But that didn't take long, and Professor Umbridge was soon at the front of the room.

"Good afternoon, class!" the froggish woman called.

There were a few murmurs of, "Good afternoon," mumbled in reply, but a majority of the class stayed silent.

"Tut tut, now that won't do!" Professor Umbridge scolded, "I would like you to to reply 'Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge.' Now, one more time, please. Good afternoon, class!"

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge," the class chanted back.

"There, now," Professor Umbridge said sweetly, "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please!"

When the command, "Wands away," was issued, many of the class exchanged gloomy looks. That command had never yet been followed by an even slightly interesting (at least, in Harry and Ron's opinion).

Toshiro pulled out his quill, some ink, and few rolls of parchment from his bag while hastily shoving his wand inside.

When the taicho turned around to look at the board, he noticed that Professor Umbridge was now holding a wand — which even he could tell was unusually short — and tapped the blackboard sharply with it.

As soon as the board was tapped, the words "Defense Against the Dark Arts: A Return to Basic Principles" appeared in a swirly, cursive-like handwriting. It made the young taicho want to puke.

"Well, now," Professor Umbridge began again, "I understand that your teaching of this subject has been rather fragmented and disrupted, hasn't it?"

The professor clasped her hands neatly in front of herself while continuing, "The constant changing of teachers — many of which did not follow a ministry-approved curriculum — has unfortunately resulted in your being far below the standard we would expect to see in your O.W.L. year.—"

Toshiro rolled his eyes at her lack of enthusiasm and nanny-like personality. She treated them like five-year olds, dammit! If she taught a class that was supposed to do with defending yourself, she might as well make it even slightly interesting!

"—You will be pleased to know, however, that these problems are now to be rectified. We will be following a carefully structured, theory-centered, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year. Copy down the following, please."

Toshiro wasn't pleased to know about the new course for DADA, and frankly, he didn't care. As long as his charge was safe, he would be fine. However, he did as he was told and waited for the new words to appear on the board.

Professor Umbridge rapped the blackboard again; the first message vanished and was replaced by:

Course aims:

1. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.

2. Learning to recognize situations in which defensive magic can legally be used.

3. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.

The class was filled with the sound of scratching quills on parchment for a few minutes, and when everyone had copied down Professor Umbridge's three course aims, she said, "Has everybody got a copy of 'Defensive Magical Theory,' by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

There were a few nods and a dull murmur of assent throughout the class.

"I think we'll try that again," said Professor Umbridge, "When I ask you a question, I should like you to reply 'Yes, Professor Umbridge,' or 'No, Professor Umbridge.' So, has everyone got a copy of 'Defensive Magical Theory' by Wilbert Slinkhard?"

A chorus of "Yes, Professor Umbridge," rang throughout the room.

"Good," said Professor Umbridge, "I should like you to turn to page five and read chapter one, 'Basics for Beginners.' There will be no need to talk."

Toshiro looked at the Professor one last time, wondering about her true intentions, before turning to his book and beginning to read. It was despairingly boring — even more so than paperwork — and the young taicho soon found himself zoning out. He had never done that before — only at the weekly captains' meetings. He had even read the first few pages multiple times, and still hadn't comprehended anything but the first few lines.

It was then that he decided that a look around he classroom wouldn't hurt, and Toshiro wearily lifted up his head and rubbed his eyes. However, the taicho continued to look up when he noticed that Hermione was holding up her hand instead of reading the textbook.

Now, in the short weeks that Toshiro had known Hermione, he had never known her to decline a book when it was put right under her nose. So, this was quite unusual for her.

After staring at Hermione's mute attempt to gain attention from Professor Umbridge for a few minutes, he realized that he wasn't the only one looking at her. By now, most of the class was staring at her instead of their books. Professor Umbridge couldn't ignore her for much longer.

Finally deciding that the situation could be no longer ignored, Professor Umbridge inquired, "Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" The professor said this in a way as though she had only just noticed her.

"Not about the chapter, no," replied Hermione.

"Well, we're reading just now," said Professor Umbridge, showing her small, pointed teeth, "If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"I've got a query about your course aims," said Hermione.

Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows, and asked, "And your name is—?"

"Hermione Granger," replied Hermione.

"This is going to get interesting," Toshiro thought to himself. Occurrences like this didn't usually happen at the Shinigami Academy during the short time the taicho attended it.

"Well, Miss Granger," Professor Umbridge continued in a voice of determined sweetness, "I think the course aims are perfectly clear if you read them through carefully."

"Well, I don't," Hermione said bluntly, "There's nothing written up there about *using* defensive spells."

At this point, many members of the class turned their heads to stare at the board. There really wasn't anything up there about using defensive spells! Actually, there was nothing written up there about using spells at all!

"Well, duh!" Toshiro thought as he mentally face-palmed, "This class is called 'Defense Against the Dark Arts,' of course we should be learning about defensive spells! How could I have been so stupid?"

Umbridge continued, however, with the false, overly-sweet smile still plastered on her face, "*Using* defensive spells? Why, I can't imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to *use* a defensive spell, Miss Granger. You surely aren't expected to be attacked during class?"

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron ejaculated loudly.

"Students raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class, Mr. —?"

"Weasley," said Ron as he thrusted his hand into the air.

Professor Umbridge, smiling still more widely, turned her back on him. Harry and Ichigo immediately raised their hands too.

"Kurosaki...!" Toshiro hissed under his breath toward the substitute shinigami. However, Ichigo made a barely perceptible shake of his head in reply, to signal, "No."

Toshiro just glared in reply, but decided to let the scene fold out in front of him.

"Yes, Mr. —?" Professor Umbridge began yet again.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Ichigo answered.

"Well, Mr. Kurosaki, what is it you want to ask?" Professor Umbridge continued to inquire.

"If this class is called 'Defense Against the Dark Arts,' shouldn't the whole point of this class be learning defensive spells and other forms of magic as a means of defending ourselves? I mean, if—"

"Are you a Ministry-trained educational expert, Mr. Kurosaki?" asked Professor Umbridge in her falsely sweet voice.

"No, but—"

"Well then, I'm afraid you are not qualified to decide what the 'whole point' of any class is. Wizards much older than and cleverer than you have devised our new program of study. You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way—"

"What use is that?" said Harry loudly, "If we're going to be attacked it won't be in a—"

"*Hand,* Mr. Potter!" sang Professor Umbridge.

Harry thrust his fist in the air as Ichigo continued, "Harry's right! We should be learning—"

"*Hand,* Mr. Kurosaki!" trilled Professor Umbridge.

Ichigo also thrust his fist in the air. Professor Umbridge promptly turned away from him again, but now several other people had their hands up too.

"And your name is?" Professor Umbridge said to Rukia.

"Rukia Kuchiki," Rukia answered.

"Well, Miss Kuchiki?" Professor Umbridge asked yet again.

"Well, it's like Harry said," started Rukia, "if we're going to be attacked, it won't be risk-free—"

"I repeat," said Professor Umbridge, smiling in a very irritating fashion at Rukia, "do you expect to be attacked during my class?"

"No, but—"

Professor Umbridge talked over her, "I do not wish to criticize the way things have been run in this school, but you have been exposed to some very irrisponsible wizards in this class, very irresponsible indeed — not to mention, dangerous half-breeds."

"Half-breeds?" Toshiro thought as Ron argued, "If you mean Professor Lupin, he was the best we ever—"

"*Hand,* Mr. Weasley! As I was saying — you have been introduced to spells that gave been complex, inappropriate to your age group, and potentially lethal. You have been frightened into believing that you are likely to meet dark attacks every other day—"

"No we haven't," Hermione said, "we just—"

"*Your hand is not up, Miss Granger!*"

Hermione put up her hand; Professor Umbridge turned away from her.

"It is my understanding that my predecessor not only performed illegal curses in front of you, he actually performed them *on* you—"

"*On* students?" Toshiro thought as Professor Umbridge continued her long-winded and quite boring speech.

"—Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about. And your name is?" she added, staring at Parvati, whose hand had just shot up.

"Parvati Patil, and isn't there a practical bit in our Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.? Aren't we suppose to show that we can actually do the countercurses and things?"

As long as you have studied the theory hard enough, there is no reason why you should not be able to perform the spells under carefully controlled examination conditions," said Professor Umbridge dismissively.

"Without ever practicing them before?" said Parvati incredulously, "Are you telling us that the first time we'll get to do the spells will be during out exam?"

"I repeat," Professor Umbridge continued, "as long as you have studied the theory hard enough—"

"And what good's theory going to be in the real world?" said Harry loudly, his fist in the air again.

Professor Umbridge looked up, and said softly, "This is school, Mr. Potter, not the real world.

"So we're not supposed to be prepared for what's waiting out there?" Harry questioned loudly.

"There is nothing waiting out there, Mr. Potter." Professor Umbridge answered.

"Oh yeah?" said Harry; his temper had seemed to reach just below the boiling point, "Well—"

However, Harry had been interrupted by a certain substitute shinigami who had decided to stand up and join the arguement.

"So, Professor, you're telling me that there's nothing out there that would want to harm me?" Ichigo asked.

Toshiro just glared at Ichigo, as if to say, "Shut up, sit down, and act normal!"

However, Ichigo ignored this again and stared questioningly at Umbridge.

"Why, yes, dear," Professor Umbridge said, her false smile on her face, "there is nothing out there that would ever want to harm children like—"

Ichigo decided to interrupt at this point, saying, "You know, Professor Umbridge, that is the biggest load of bullshit that I have ever heard in my life. Nothing would ever want to harm us? Pssht."

"Excuse me?" Professor Umbridge almost screamed, "I will not be talked to like this, Mr. Kurosaki! There are no Dark wizards back from the dead, and nothing has harmed or will harm children like you!"

"So are you saying Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord?" Harry intervened, almost shaking with tension.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident," Professor Umbridge said coldly.

"It was murder," replied Harry. At this point, he *was* shaking. "Voldemort killed him, and you know it."

"Potter is *so* dead, Renji suddenly thought to himself, having stayed quiet during this whole argument. But at this point he began to wonder why he didn't do anything about this cluster-fuck like Ichigo.

"Oh well," Renji thought again, "at least Hitsugaya-taicho won't be wanting to 'Daiguren Hyorinmaru' my ass..."

Little did the vice captain know, Toshiro's thoughts were almost exactly what Renji predicted them to be. The young taicho was currently thinking, "Damn, when I get my hands on him... I am going to 'Daiguren Hyorinmaru' his ass and do nothing to help him out with it. His ass will be frozen for *days.*"

"Umm... Master..?" Hyorinmaru replied to his master's rant, "I don't really want you to shove me up Ichigo's ass..."

At that point, Toshiro didn't care, and he just continued "..."ing.

After turning back to the situation at hand, Renji and Toshiro realized that Umbridge was smiling venomously at Ichigo and Harry (the two thought that she was about to explode at them), not even looking at the rest of the class.

"Dearies," Professor Umbridge calmly said, surprising everyone, "please come here to my desk."

Harry kicked his chair aside, while Ichigo simply slid it out then back in, and walked to her desk. They could practically feel the rest of the class holding it's breath.

Professor Umbridge then pulled a small roll of — wait for it... — *pink* parchment out of her handbag, stretched it out on her desk, and started scribbling on it with a *pink* quill dipped in *pink* ink.

After she was done writing, Umbridge quietly sealed the roll with a tap of her wand, and said, "Take this to Professor McGonagall, dears."

Harry took it from her without saying a word and left the room, Ichigo following close behind. Ichigo made one last quiet glare toward Umbridge, before slamming the door shut behind him.

Harry walked very fast down the corridor, and Ichigo even almost had to jog just to keep up.

When Ichigo and Harry turned the corner, however, they were interrupted when Peeves the Poltergeist suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Why, it's Potty Wee Potter!" cackled Peeves.

"Get out of it, Peeves," Harry snapped back.

"Oooh, Crackpot's feeling cranky," said Peeves, following the wizard and shinigami down the corridor, "What is it this time, my fine Potty friend? Hearing voices? Seeing vis—"

"If you don't mind, would you please stop bothering us? We have to see Professor McGonagall," Ichigo interrupted the ghost.

Peeves glared at him, before suddenly exclaiming, "Oh, one of the new transfer students! Potty's madness rubbing off on you?"

Peeves made one loud cackle, before singing:

"Oh, most think he's barking, the Potty wee lad,

Bust some are more kindly and think he's just sad,

But Peevesy knows better and says that he's mad—"

"SHUT UP!" Harry shouted at the ghost.

At that moment, a door to their left flew open and Professor McGonagall emerged from her office looking grim and slightly harassed.

"What on *earth* are you shouting about, Potter?" she snapped as Peeves grinned devilishly and zoomed away, "Ichigo, too? Why aren't you in class?"

"We've been sent to see you," Ichigo answered.

"Sent? What do you mean, sent?" Professor McGonagall questioned in reply.

Ichigo held out the piece of parchment Professor Umbridge had given to them, and Professor McGonagall opened it with a tap of her wand.

The Professor's eyes scanned over the words quickly, narrowing at each line.

"Come in here, Potter, Kurosaki," Professor McGonagall said coldly.

The two student stepped inside of her office and shut the door.

As soon as they did, however, Professor McGonagall exclaimed, "Is it true?"

"Is what true, Professor?" Harry replied.

"Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?" McGonagall questioned.

"Yes," said Harry.

"You called her a liar?"

"Yes."

"You told her He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?"

"Yes."

"And you!" Professor McGobagall exclaimed, rounding on Ichigo, "Is it true that you cursed at her and said some very inappropriate things in the middle of her class?"

"Yes," Ichigo replied, not flinching the slightest. Even Yachiru could be scarier than this at times!

Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk and rubbed her temples, frowning at the two Griffindors. Then she said, "Have a biscuit, Potter, Kurosaki."

"Have — what?"

"Have a biscuit," she repeated impatiently, gesturing toward a tin of cookies lying on top of her desk, "and sit down."

Ichigo and Harry each took a cookie — Ichigo noticing that her desk was much neater that most of the taichos' desks — and sat down in two chairs located in the front of the professor.

"You need to be more careful," McGonagall said, finally quieting down.

"Especially you, Mr. Kurosaki," she continued as she turned to look toward Ichigo.

"Why does Ichigo have to be extra careful?" Harry wondered to himself as Ichigo nodded.

Professor McGonagall gave the two another look — but it seemed softer and more anxious than her first — before continuing, "Misbehavior in Dolores's class could cost you much more than House points and a detention."

But Harry interrupted with, "What do you—"

"Potter, use your common sense!" snapped the Professor with an abrupt return to her usual manner, "You know where she comes from, you must know to who's she is reporting."

"Who *is* she reporting to?" Ichigo questioned to himself. But his train of thought was suddenly interrupted by McGonagall.

"It says here she's given you two detention every evening this week, starting tomorrow," the Professor announced.

"Every evening this week? But Professor!" Harry exclaimed, "Couldn't you—"

"No, I couldn't," said Professor McGonagall flatly.

"But—"

"Harry," Ichigo interrupted, deciding to intervene, "she was our professor, she had every right to give us detention for what we did."

Even McGonagall was silent. Never in her life had she seen a *Griffindor* willing to go to detention.

"But I was telling the truth!" Harry exclaimed, outraged, "Voldemort's back, you know he is, Professor Dumbledore knows he is—"

"For heaven's sake, Potter!" said Professor McGonagall, wincing horribly when he had uses Voldemort's name, "Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It's about keeping your head down and your temper under control!"

"Professor's right," Ichigo agreed as McGonagall stood up. Harry and Ichigo soon followed.

"Have another biscuit," she said irritably, thrusting the tin at the two students.

"No thanks," Harry replied coldly, while Ichigo said, "Sure, thanks," and took one.

"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped at Harry, Ichigo still munching on his.

Harry took one, before grudgingly saying, "Thanks."

"Didn't you listen to Dolores Umbridge's speech at the start-of-term feast, Potter, Kurosaki?"

"Yeah," they both replied, but Harry continued, saying, "she said... progress will be prohibited or... well, it meant that... that the Ministry of Magic is trying to interfere at Hogwarts."

Ichigo nodded in agreement, having not listened to the speech, as Professor McGonagall eyed them for a few moments.

She then walked around her desk and held the door open for them.

"Well, I'm glad you listen to Hermione Granger at any rate," she said, pointing them out of her office.

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After getting lectured by Professor McGonagall, Ichigo and Harry walked back to their Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom to meet up with the other wizards and shinigami. Apparently, they had made it just on time, because the class had just ended and students were beginning to file out.

"So," Hermione began, "what will you two have to do for detention? Did Professor McGonagall get very mad at you?"

Harry didn't say anything, so Ichigo answered her question for him, saying, "Well, the old bat lectured us for a while—"

"Professor McGonagall is not an old bat!" Hermione defiantly interrupted.

"—and said a bunch of useless stuff which I have already forgotten. And, well, she forced us to take a cookie from a tray on her desk. Do you wizards have a different form of punishment than ours? Because last time I checked, cookies were not handed out as a form of punishment!"

"That is very strange..." Rukia responded to Ichigo's 'cookie torture' comment. Well, at least it was better this way... Better cookies than knives!

"Umm... no? I don't think so..." Ron answered Ichigo's question.

"Anyway, which classroom are we supposed to go to?" Renji suddenly asked.

"Ukitake-tai—I mean, sensei said that the class would be in room 113," Rukia answered.

"That's good!" Hermione exclaimed, "Because that classroom is just around the corner here!"

The Golden Trio and the shinigami walked around the said corner, and stood just outside of the said classroom.

"So," Ron began, "what do you think this class will be like? Didn't Professor Dumbledore say that we were going to use swords? Blimey, that's going to be exciting!"

Harry and Hermione nodded their heads in agreement, while Rukia said, "Ukitake-sensei will probably make the class fun and exciting, but safe! He's really kind, and will help you with any of your problems! Let's just go inside and see what happens..."

The shinigami and wizards walked inside of the classroom, and saw Ukitake standing at the front of the room.

Draco and his gang were some of the students seated at desks. A few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, Neville, Pansy Parkinson, Seamus, and Dean were also seated at some desks.

The seven Griffindors took their seats at some desks near the front of the room; directly behind Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy, who were seated in the front row.

After a few moments of waiting, Ukitake clapped his hands once and started the class with, "Okay, class! I am Professor Jūshirō Ukitake — as Dumbledore-sempai said in the Great Hall yesterday — and I am here to teach you an art of sword fighting called 'Kenjutsu—!'"

"Well, isn't that obvious?" Malfoy sneered loudly, interrupting Ukitake. However, the shinigami kindly ignored this and continued on.

"—Kenjutsu is basically learning the correct ways to use a sword with some forms, called katas, that we will practice later on. But today, we will just be studying a special type of sword called a 'zanpakutō.' For tomorrow and the rest of the week, we will learn the ways to correctly hold a sword and use one! You will find that this class is very hands-on. We will be having class outside today, so please follow me!"

After this, Ukitake walked over to the door and opened it. The students then quickly filed out of their desks and into the unusually quiet hallway.

"Well, it's quite strange hearing the hallway silent for once," Hermione stated, trying to make the passage seem less quiet and unusual. However, none of the class said anything in reply, and all was quiet until Ukitake stopped in a small field near the Forbidden Forest.

"Okay, since we're here now, I will show you something special that only a few people in the Wizarding World have ever seen before," Ukitake explained, "However, please step back a bit!"

The class cautiously stepped back, and watched as Ukitake pulled his zanpakutō out from it's sheath. Some students stared in fright, while others looked up in amazement and awe.

"Blimey, is that a real sword?" Ron asked loudly. His eyes were wide open because he had never seen a weapon like that before. The shinigami noticed this, and Ichigo and Renji snorted in amusement.

"It's just a zanpakutō," Ichigo thought. It wasn't like it was a grenade — or worse, a hollow!

"Yes, it is!" Ukitake replied to Ron's question, chuckling. In the taicho's opinion, Ron sounded like the young kids in the Rukongai who had never seen anything from the Seireitei before. It was quite amusing, to say the least.

"Now," Ukitake began again, "please step back a little more, and stay quiet!"

The class stepped back a few more feet as a meditative silence filled the field. But after a few seconds, a strange, heavy pressure filled the area, and Ukitake called out, "All waves, rise and become my shield. All lightning, strike and become my blade. Sōgyō no Kotowari!"

Immediately, the sword Ukitake had ben holding was engulfed in a bright light; but that wasn't all — the sword even split in two!

"Whoa..." Harry mumbled aloud. Even Draco and his gang were silent.

"Wh-what happened to your sword, Professor?" Hermione stuttered. She was staring fixedly at Sōgyō no Kotowari, wondering what had happened to it.

"Is that some form of magic?" Neville questioned right after Hemione, losing his usual shy demeanor.

Ukitake chuckled and smiled, but answered, "No, it's simply harnessing the power of my sword and bringing it up a level."

"Are we going to use swords like that?" Malfoy suddenly interrupted. He looked like he wanted to go up there and inspect the sword.

"No," Ukitake answered again, "You'll just be using blunt wooden swords covered in leather. Even so, it takes *years* of training to get to the level of experience and accomplishment that I've achieved. When one can get their sword to it's released form, it is considered a great accomplishment, and that released form is called 'Shikai.' However, the original form of the sword doesn't have a particular title. Even so, throughout all of it's stages, the sword is called a 'zanpakutō.'

"So," Harry began, "your sword is called a zanpakutō, and it's released form is known as Shikai?"

"That's right!" Ukitake exclaimed, "But of all of you students here think that all we will do today is learn about my zanpakutō, you're wrong. After this class, you should have a little hands-on experience with zanpakutō. After I tell you today's classwork, you may think that it will easy, pointless, or both — but it won't be. You'll probably need all of your skills and knowledge with children to get through this assignment!"

"With... children?" Rukia asked, "Um... Ukitake-sensei... are you going to do... *that?*"

"'That?'" Ichigo questioned Rukia suspiciously. But the jyuusanbantai member ignored him and continued to look at her taicho.

"Yes, Rukia," Ukitake began, "Sōgyō and Koto are going to come out!"

Rukia gulped nervously at this, and Toshiro had the beginnings of a frown on his mouth, but Renji and Ichigo just wondered what they were even talking about.

"Sōgyō and... Koto?" Ron whispered to Harry. Harry only shrugged in response.

However, the two were interrupted when Ukitake put his zanpakutō on the ground in front of him, and the same strange pressure filled the area once more.

After a few moments of the pressure getting stronger and stronger, and then suddenly stopping and vanishing, a cloud of smoke filled the area around the sword. The cloud continued to swirl around the zanpakutō, but it eventually began clearing — making two short figures slightly visible through the cloud.

"What happened this time?" Ron asked to anyone who was listening, "Did anything even happen at al—"

But, at that moment, two blue bundles jumped on Ron and tackled him to the ground. Ron let out a grunt, and proceeded to get a view of his two attackers.

"Hello!" two twin children chimed, as Ron stared up at them from his vantage point.

Soon, the entire class was staring at them — even Parvati and Lavender had stopped their chatting — their looks questioning who they were.

"Umm... could you please get off me?" Ron asked the two kids.

They looked at themselves, then at the young wizard, then at themselves again, then back at the young wizard, before replying, "Aww... Red-chan's no fun... Let's go play with Uki-chan!"

The two then jumped off Ron, laughing and holding hands, and climbed up Ukitake's robes until they were perched on his shoulders. They were still holding hands throughout all of this.

"Uki-chan, let's play!" one of the children called.

"Yeah, yeah!" the other one encouraged.

The entire class was still staring up at the two — shinigami included — until Ukitake got their attention and explained, "Class, these are Sōgyō and Koto, also known as, Sōgyō no Kotowari!"

The twins continued to laugh and hold hands, but waved at the students.

"Sōgyō... no... Kotowari?" Hermione mumbled, "Professor, didn't you say that was the name of your zanpakutō?"

Ukitake smiled and in reply, before saying, "Yes. This is the physical form of my zanpakutō. The word 'zanpakutō' literally translates to 'Soul Slayer,' and is the physical representation of my 'soul.' Since different people souls, however, not all zanpakutōs are similar to mine. In fact, some of them aren't even human!"

When he said the last sentence, Ukitake looked toward Toshiro. Not many people noticed this, but Malfoy, the Golden Trio, and the shinigami did.

"Wait," Malfoy cried indignantly, "are you saying this little runt here has a zanpakutō too?"

The thirteenth division captain frowned at this, and said in reply, "Malfoy-san, would you please refrain from calling people names in my class? And yes, Toshiro, Rukia, Renji, and Ichigo have all achieved a zanpakutō."

"No way!" Malfoy cried, thinking that they were all (except for Rukia, of course) insuperior to him, "And you can't tell me what to do! You're just a simple teacher, not even a Slytherin one, at tha—"

But the Slytherin was interrupted when Sōgyō and Koto jumped on him and made him fall. As he fell, an "Oof!" sound was heard.

"Ratty-chan is so mean!" the twins chirruped, "Uki-chan and Shiro-chan are nice, so don't be mean to them!"

"Why should I?" Malfoy retorted, "You're just toddlers. Heck, I'm even older than you!"

For the first time that day, a frown graced the twins' faces as they said, "We're as old as Uki-chan..."

Malfoy's mouth opened wide at this, but he immediately shut it.

"You're telling me these... these mere *children* are—"

However, Malfoy was interrupted yet again; but this time, by two "whoosh"ing noises right past his ear. He turned his head to it side to face his left, and then again to face his right, and saw two fans there. Each fan was about one centimeter from his ears, and stuck firmly into the ground. But these weren't just any fans — they were blade-edged fans.

"You should be careful, Rat-face-chan," Sōgyō and Koto called ominously, "because next time, we might just change our aim a teensy-weensy bit, and hit you."

Malfoy gulped at this hardly veiled threat, as did everyone else but the shinigami.

"Now now, Sōgyō-chan, Koto-chan. Please get off of Malfoy-san. And Malfoy-san, do be careful around these two; like I said earlier, they can be quite a handful!" Ukitake said, not very surprised about the situation. Frankly, he expected this to happen with at least one of the students; there always is a school bully, after all.

Meanwhile, the twin zanpakutō climbed off of Malfoy and back onto Ukitake's shoulders. They were perched there, once again smiling and holding hands as if nothing had happened.

"Well," Ukitake began again, "today's assignment will be one that you have never had, and will probably never want again. Today, I want you to look after Sōgyō and Koto for me!"

"Wait," Ron suddenly interrupted, "are you saying that we're supposed to *baby-sit* these two?"

"Yup!" Ukitake, Sōgyō, and Koto all chimed together.

"Now I see how he shares a personality with these two..." Toshiro thought to himself, staying to the sidelines and trying not to draw attention to himself. Of all the things he came to Britain for, baby-sitting surely wasn't one of them.

"But," Ukitake continued his answer, "this baby-sitting assignment will be your first grade of the term. So, if you mess this up, your first term won't start too well... I will be grading this assignment upon Sōgyō's and Koto's opinions of you af the end of this class. So, you may now... start!"

Right at this moment, Ukitake shunpoed away into the sky to watch the class below.

But, the rest of the class thought he had apparated away and left them alone to fend for themselves. Groans were heard all throughout the field as Sōgyō and Koto began their plan of terror (figuratively speaking, at least, since they didn't really *have* a plan).

"Let's play!" the twin zanpakutō squealed as they jumped and latched themselves onto Hermione.

Hermione just stood there, startled by their sudden action, as Sōgyō and Koto explained, "Okay, you're Bushy-chan!—"

They then pointed at Harry and Ron in turn, and said to each of them, "—And you're Glasses-chan and Red-head-chan!"

"Hey!" the two Griffindors indignantly exclaimed, as Ron continued, "Why couldn't I be called something else?"

"Would you rather be called Weasel-chan?" the two asked him, cutely pouting.

"No!" Ron cried immediately, "Definately not!" He and the Golden Trio had still remembered last year's incident with Malfoy and the Professor Moody. He was perfectly fine with Malfoy being a weasel, but he sure didn't want to be one himself. The fact that it made fun of his last name didn't help much, either.

"Well," Hermione started, beginning to recompose herself, "what would you two like to play? Since were going to baby-sit you, we might as well get started!"

"Hmm..." Sōgyō thought aloud, as Koto continued with, "We—"

Sogyo also continued the sentence, thw twins alternating with every word.

"Would—"

"Like—"

"To—"

"Play..."

The two rubbed their chins, pretending to be in deep thought, before both calling out, "Run!"

"Run?" Neville asked, as the two nodded their heads.

"Yup!" the two replied, nodding their heads, as Harry asked, "What is 'Run?' How do you play it?"

"'Run' is 'Run!'" Koto exclaimed, as Sōgyō explained, "In 'Run,' you just... run!"

"So there's no point in it at all," Malfoy drawled, "no object or purpose?"

"Nope!" the twins replied, beginning to run, "But we'll add another rule: if you catch us, we'll stop running and tell Uki-chan to give whoever caught us a good grade! And we'll even let whoever you choose get good grades, too!"

"But why would we want to run and chase you for that reason only?" Ron suddenly asked, "I mean, I wouldn't mind getting an 'Acceptable,' just as long as I don't fail."

"Well..." Koto began again, "Let's put it this way—"

"—If you don't play, then we'll tell Uki-chan to fail you!" Sōgyō continued.

Not wanting to fail any subject even once, Hermione cried, "No!" as the twins giggled.

"Okay then, let's play!" they swirled together as they began to run away from the class.

Most of the class began to run half-heartedly, but soon stopped. Technically, they wouldn't fail because they did what the twins wanted, and ran after them.

However, being the good students they were, the Golden Trio were some of the few students still running after them. The others were Malfoy and his gang (he wanted to strangle the two, and had ordered Crabbe and Goyle to help catch them), and Neville (he didn't want to face his grandmother's wrath upon recieving a bad grade). The shinigami hadn't moved an inch from where they had originally stood.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Meanwhile, up above the running students...

"Ah ha ha!" Ukitake laughed, "If only Shunsui were here to see this! So, these students here get an 'Acceptable...'"

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The chase had been going on for about twenty minutes by now. The students who had stopped chasing the twins were talking amongst themselves in small groups, discussing the latest gossip and whatnot. However, the Golden Trio, Malfoy and his gang, and Neville were still pursuing the children. The shinigami still hadn't moved, and were now watching the twins being chased by wizards — amused by their antics.

"They just really don't know how to handle things, do they?" Renji commented aloud as Harry tripped over a rock and fell flat on his face, thus causing Draco to trip over him and land in a puddle of mud.

After sliding to a stop, the Malfoy lay as a dirty heap on the ground, exhausted by running. Because of this, Crabbe and Goyle came to help their leader up, but instead slipped on his trail of mud, and fell down, too. Ron and Hermione walked over to Harry, and lay down beside him. Neville just immediately fell on his bottom, sweating profusely and panting.

"Well, if *you* know how to do this, bloody prove it!" Ron shouted at Renji.

Renji just chuckled in reply, and said, "Do you want to know the easy way, or the hard way?"

"Preferably the easy way," Hermione gasped out.

Renji nodded, "Okay," and got to work:

Step 1) Take out a piece of candy or other sweet confection.

Step 1, complete.

Step 2) Hold the candy out directly in front of you, and shout out, "Sōgyō, Koto, come and get it!"

Step 2, complete.

Step 3) Brace yourself as the two twins come barreling into you.

Step 3, complete.

Congratulations, you have successfully captured the twins!

"Bloody hell, why didn't we think of that?" Harry groaned, "I mean, during the train incident, we found out that Professor Ukitake likes candy! If these two are a physical embodiment of his soul, they're bound to like what he likes!"

"Well, it's not entirely your fault... We just have way to much experience in this area," Rukia comforted the wizards as Renji struggled to hold down the twins.

"Need some help?" Ichigo suddenly asked Renji, "I could hold down one of them while you hold the other."

"Sure, thanks," Renji replied, loosening his hold on one of the twins; he wasn't sure which one, and frankly, he didn't care.

"Well, too bad," Ichigo said back, smirking, "I think you're perfectly fine handling them on your own!"

"You little..!" Renji called out to Ichigo. But suddenly, Sōgyō and Koto squirmed out of the fuku-taicho's grip and made a beeline away from him. However, their plan was thwarted when Toshiro quickly grabbed the collars of their vestments and prevented them from escaping.

"Ukitake-sensei," Toshiro called out to the surrounding vicinity, "we've caught them! Now what?"

After a few moments, Ukitake jumped down from his sitting place in the sky and landed softly on the ground.

"Bloody hell, how did you do that?" Ron asked the taicho.

"That will have to be explained some other class," Ukitake answered. He walked over to Toshiro and took the twins from him. They climbed up the taicho and reclaimed their previous spots on his shoulders.

"Good job, Shiro-chan!—" the captain exclaimed as he ruffled the boy's hair. Sōgyō and Koto both called out "Yeah yeah!" in the background.

"—Everyone who chased the twins for about twenty minutes or more or caught them," Ukitake continued, "you get an 'Outstanding' for today's lesson! The rest of the class will get an 'Acceptable!'"

"Whew," Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Draco sighed in relief.

"But Shiro-chan," Ukitake continued once more, "since you gave them to me, you can have this!"

Suddenly, the captain pulled out a King-sized packet of Bertie Botts's Every Flavor Beans and handed them to Toshiro. The young taicho looked ruefully at the beans before accepting them.

"Okay then," Ukitake called, directing his attention back to the class and away from his favorite 'Shiro-chan,' "for today, class is dismissed!"

"What a bunch of crazy kids," a smiling Ukitake thought to himself as the students made their way back to the castle, "but I can't help but wonder what they'll have in store for me! Much less, the rest of the school! This teaching job was definitely a good idea!"

Whew! *wipes forehead* That was the longest one yet! Thanks for hanging in with me there, guys! =D No matter what, I'll never be able to fully express my gratitude!

Oh, and in case you don't know, when I put asterisks (these things: *_*) around a word, it either emphasizes the word, replaces italics, names a book title, or names a spell. Just an FYI! X3

Anyway, please review! It'll only take a few seconds at most, and it doesn't even have to be very long! Just a few words of encouragement, praise, or even a hate flame will be fine! I'll try to reply to your reviews, but if I don't, my deepest apologies! Anyway, please review! Thank you!

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Please review, ya' know ya' wanna'! XD Thanks again!

~Indigo

* . * . * . * . * . \( ' ° ' )/ * . * . * . * . *


	7. Chapter 7

Heyo! I'm back with another chappie for "Death at Hogwarts's Doors!" XD Thanks again for all the reviews, guys! You wouldn't *believe* how much these motivate me! X3

VERY VERY VERY VERY MUCH THANKS TO THE REVIEWERS:

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Thanks, guys! =D

Now, on to the chappie! =^.^=

* * *

Death at Hogwarts's Doors

Chapter 7

by Indigo (fayfan)

* * *

Toshiro's POV

Even after the pleasant Kenjutsu class, dinner wasn't going very well for Harry — Renji was even able to figure this out.

The news about his shouting match with Umbridge, and Ichigo cursing at the said teacher had quickly spread far and wide. By then, almost the entire school had known.

"Damn, how could something like this spread so fast?" Toshiro thought to himself as he angrily stabbed his mashed potatoes with his fork. The news was spreading faster than it would in his own division, and that was saying something!

Another strange thing was the fact that every time someone badmouthed Ichigo or Harry, they did it in a loud manner, not even whispering. It was as if they were trying to provoke the two into shouting and cursing some more.

"And, damn it!" Toshiro thought to himself again, "We were *supposed* to be staying inconspicuous!"

"Master," Hyorinmaru rumbled within the inner regions of his mind, "don't worry about this too much. You know that worrying will only make it worse."

"Yes, I know," Toshiro quietly sighed back. To an outsider, it would have appeared as if the young captain was talking to himself, thus leading to the conclusion that he was, "a bit off his rocker," as those Brits put it.

"This just isn't going very well..." the white-haired Griffindor thought to himself as he quietly lay down his eating utensils. He decided that he was going to go to bed to sleep all of this off. Hopefully, everything would seem clearer in the morning.

Soon after, he got up from his seat, and realized that the Golden Trio were standing up as well.

They stormed out of the Dining Hall — Hermione leading, Ron slowly following after while sending despairing looks toward his unfinished apple pie, and Harry bringing up the rear with his hands shoved angrily into his pockets.

"Toshiro," Rukia began, still slightly unsure about whether the captain was alright with her addressing him by his first name, "what are you doing?"

The jyuusan-bantai member was sitting in front of a platter of salad and meat; Toshiro wondered what poor animal that was. Maybe it was the rabbit that the *Dream Oracle* predicted she would eat.

"I think I will go back to the dorms and retire for the night," the taicho announced, rubbing his temples. He was about to be sporting one major headache in the morning.

"Okay," Rukia replied as Ichigo called out, "Sure." The shinigami-daiko was rabidly having an eating match between himself and Renji. Ichigo's mouth was stuffed with a chicken leg while dripping ketchup ("Not a pretty sight," the taicho thought), and Renji's mouth was full of mashed potatoes and gravy. According to Toshiro's understanding of the human anatomy, neither of these should have been possible.

"Well then, good night!" Toshiro said to the shinigami.

"And Ichigo," he continued after turning around from walking a few steps, "try not to stick out!"

"Mmph mmm!" Ichigo mumbled back, his mouth still full of food; he was glaring fiercely at Renji, who seemed unfazed.

Toshiro quietly opened and closed the large door to the Dining Hall, and stepped out. As he made his way to the Griffindor Common Room, he was not disturbed or bothered by anyone, as most of the student body was currently having dinner in the Dining Hall.

After reaching the moving portrait of the drinking, purple-clad fat lady (the taicho *still* wasn't used to this), he paused for a moment.

"Password?" the lady asked. Her word was slurred as if she was beginning to get drunk.

"No... not another Matsumoto..!" Toshiro thought to himself as he clearly pronounced, "Mimbulus mimbletonia."

The portrait swung open, and Toshiro stepped into the Common Room. The Golden Trio had noticed this, and they turned to look at the student who had entered.

Toshiro walked over to them, and sat down in an overly-cushioned seat next to Ron. Hermione looked quite mad about something, as did Ron and Harry, but not so much.

"You know what, forget it," Hermione said angrily, "Let's just do our homework!"

People were beginning to enter the portrait hole, and Toshiro noticed that most of them were staring at Harry or giving him looks. The shinigami had not come back yet, Toshiro knew, because he could not sense ther reiatsu nearby.

"So..." Harry began, "I guess we should do Potions first."

The four Griffindors pulled out parchment and a quill from their bags, and wrote the title "The Properties of Moonstone and Its Uses in Potion-Making" at the top of their respective parchments.

"So, what are the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making?" Ron asked Hermione.

However, the witch was not listening. Instead, she was staring fixedly into the far corner of the room, where Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were now sitting at the center of a group of students. First years, by the look of them.

Fred handed each of the children a small, unidentifiable object, which they each promptly stuck in their mouths.

"I'm sorry, they have gone too far!" Hermione stated, standing up and looking absolutely furious, "Come on, Ron, we have to stop them."

"I — what?" Ron asked, clearly wanting to go anywhere but there, "No — come on, Hermione — we can't tell them off for giving out sweets..."

Toshiro rolled his eyes as he continued to write his paper: "The chemical components and properties of moonstone allow it to..." He was already about a third of the way done.

Hermione crossed her arms while retorting, "You know perfectly well that those are bits of Nosebleed Nougat, or Puking Pastilles, or—"

"Fainting Fancies?" Harry suggested quietly.

One by one, as though knocked out by a captain's spiritual pressure, the first years slumped into their seats or onto the floor — clearly unconscious. Some of their tongues were even lolling out.

Most of the people watching this were laughing, but Toshiro snorted in annoyance. There were many more things important in life than wanting to escape class. Hermione did not look amused either; she marched up to the two twins, practically overflowing with anger.

Fred and George were writing notes about the fainted children on a clipboard, but glanced up when Hermione stormed up to them.

"That's enough!" Hermione said forcefully to the twins.

"Yeah, you're right," said George, nodding, "this dosage looks strong enough, doesn't it?"

"I told you this morning," Hermione exclaimed, "you can't test your rubbish on students!"

"We're paying them!" said Fred indignantly.

"I don't care," Hermione talked back, "it could be dangerous!"

"Rubbish," said Fred.

"Calm down Hermione, they're fine!" said Lee reassuringly as he inserted another candy — this time, purple — into each of the students' open mouths.

"Yeah, look, they're coming around now," said George.

A few of the first years were beginning to stir, some of whom looked quite confused about what happened and where they were.

"Feel all right?" asked George kindly to a dark-haired girl lying near him.

"I-I think so," she replied shakily.

"This situation is beginning to remind me about Kutotsuchi and his lab procedures," Toshiro suddenly thought to himself. As long as the subject wasn't dead or permanently maimed, they were fine. Well, at least to the jyuunii-bantai.

"Excellent," said Fred happily to the girl, about to take notes on the clipboard. However, Hermione immediately snatched it out of his hands, along with the paper bag of Fainting Fancies.

"This is NOT excellent!" Hermione exclaimed.

"'Course it is, they're alive, aren't they?" said Fred angrily.

Hermione frowned at them, and proceded to say, "You can't do this, what if you make one of them really ill?"

George answered this, saying, "We're not going to make them ill, we've already tested them all on ourselves, this is just to see if everyone reacts the same—

"If you don't stop," Hermione threatened, "I'm going to—"

"Put us in detention?" said Fred in an I'd-like-to-see-you-try-it voice.

"Make us write lines?" asked George, smirking.

Onlookers all over the room were laughing, but Hermione didn't look amused the slightest.

The witch stood up to her full height and glared at the twins. She then finished, threatening, "No, but I will write to your mother."

"You wouldn't!" exclaimed George, horrified, taking a step back from her. As far as he was concerned, that was way below the belt.

"Yes, I would!" After savoring the twins' horrified faces for a few more moments, she thrust the clipboard and paper bag back into Fred's hands, and stalked off back to Harry, Ron, and Toshiro.

"Thanks for your support, Ron," Hermione said acidly.

"You didn't look like you needed any help," Ron quickly replied, sinking lower and lower into his chair. So far, he had gotten no where with his essay.

Hermione sat back down in an overly-stuffed chair, and held up her pen as if poised to write her essay. However, she soon put it back down and let out a defeated sigh.

"Oh, this is useless," she began, "I'm going to go to bed!"

However, after putting away her quill and parchment, Hermione pulled two misshapen wooly objects out of her bag.

"What are those?" Ron asked. Toshiro took a glance up (he was about ten inches done with the one foot long essay) and saw the objects. In the taicho's opinion, it looked like a Kurotsuchi knitting project gone wrong.

"They're Hats for House Elves!" Hermione exclaimed cheerily back to Ron as she set them on the fireplace mantle and covered them with broken quills and other junk.

Hermione continued again, "I started them over the summer. I'm a slow knitter without magic, so I'll be able to do more over the school year!"

"You're setting the House Elves free when they might not want to be!" Ron said disbelievingly back.

"Of course they do!" Hermione retorted, "Don't you dare touch those hats, Ron. And good night!" She walked up the staircase leading up to the girls' dormitories and disappeared from view.

As soon as he was sure the coast was clear, Ron got out of his chair and cleared the junk off the wooly hats.

"They should at least see what they're picking up," he said firmly as he threw the rubbish away. He then walked back to his chair and sat down again.

"Oh, it's no use now," Ron moaned, "I can't do it without Hermione, and I haven't got a clue about what you're supposed to do with moonstones! I don't suppose you two do either?"

Harry shook his head, while Toshiro held up his now finished essay. At this point, Ron's eyeballs looked like they were just about to bulge out of his head.

"Bloody..!" Ron whispered, "When did you even write that?" Harry looked shocked, too.

"I wrote it while you three were wasting your time chatting," Toshiro replied, rolling his eyes.

"Can we see it?" Ron hopefully asked; his hands were folded and he was practically begging.

"No," Toshiro abruptly rejected without even a second thought, "I believe that people should do their own work."

A brief image of a drunken Matsumoto flashed passed his mind, but he immediately shook it off. No need to be reminded of his lazy fuku-taicho now. He just hoped that she was actually doing paperwork...

Ron frowned at him, and sighed, before replying, "Fine. Good night." He picked up his bag and went up to the boys' dormitories, Harry soon following.

Toshiro sighed, and lay back in his chair. After another thirty minutes of doing homework, he was done. Apparently, doing extra paperwork helped him after all. Not that he was going to tell Matsumoto that.

After another five minutes of leaning back in his chair and glaring at the fire until it had shrunken drastically, the other shinigami entered the Common Room.

Ichigo was wiping his face with a dirty sleeve of his robe, and Renji had a big grin on his face. Uh oh, not good.

"Hey Toshiro!" Renji greeted. The fuku-taicho was still grinning mischievously.

The captain looked back at them in response, but said nothing. After a few moments, he told them, "In case you have forgotten, you have a lot of homework to do. If I were you, I would try to finish all of it tonight because who knows how much we'll have tomorrow."

"Oh crap!" Ichigo exclaimed at the realization of this. But Rukia still looked neutral.

"I finished it all before dinner," she explained. Toshiro nodded in recognition at this, as Renji and Ichigo ran to get their homework out of their bags.

By the time they were over, it was exactly twelve o' clock P.M. Toshiro yawned quietly as Renji and Ichigo put down their quills, and stuffed their homework back into their bags.

Unlike earlier, Ichigo was smirking this time, with Renji frowning. The two had a contest to see who could finish their homework fastest, and Ichigo won by about three seconds.

"I won!" Ichigo taunted Renji as the fuku-taicho just settled on glaring at him.

"Boys, boys," Rukia scolded, "calm down! We all know you're both pretty!"

At this, the orange and red head gaped, but Toshiro just sweatdropped.

"Well then," Rukia finished, "good night!"

She walked up the stairs leading to the girls' dorms and disappeared from sight.

"Well," Renji got up from his chair, yawning, "I guess I'll get some shut-eye, too. 'Night!"

"Yeah," Ichigo told no one in particular, "'Night!"

The two shinigami disappeared from the captain's view, and he got up, yawning. He might as well go to bed, too.

As he entered his dorm, he found Ichigo, Renji, Harry, Ron, and Neville already curled up in their beads, fast asleep. Loud, troll-quality snoring could be heard from Renji and Ron, but everyone else was silent.

Toshiro undressed and changed into his night yukata, then climbed into bed. He decided to meditate for about fifteen minutes with Hyorinmaru, which he did.

As Toshiro lay in bed, he thought of the day's events.

"Ah, the wizarding world is such an interesting place..." the capatin thought as he drifted off into the dark abyss of sleep.

* * *

Breakfast the next day...

Toshiro yawned, tired, but content with the morning. It was raining outside and was somewhat chilly, and this pleased the taicho.

"...But on the plus side, no Snape today," Ron interrupted the taicho's thoughts. Toshiro took another bowlful of rice, and continued to eat.

"I still don't understand how you eat that for breakfast!" Ron exclaimed toward the shinigami, "I mean, look at all the other possibilities! There's bacon, toast, waffles, pancakes, scones... There are even some cookies and muffins!"

Rukia poured herself some more coffee (after being introduced to it at Ichigo's house, she couldn't resist having at least two cups every morning), as she also scooped herself some more rice.

"And that's why you wizards will someday become fat," she simply said. Ron glared at her for this, and angrily took a bite of his waffles. Harry just rolled his eyes.

"You could at least do something to... I don't know... add to it's tastes!" Ron continued arguing.

"You're right," Ichigo said, "it is missing something..." The substitute shinigami took a scrambled egg and placed it on top of his white rice.

"There, done!" he exclaimed, content.

Ron just sadly looked at the lost cause, and proceeded to finish his waffles. But he then noticed that Hermione was a little more happy and bright than usual.

"What's got you so excited?" he asked, chewing.

"The hats have gone. Seems the house-elves do want freedom after all," Hermione cheerfully replied

"I wouldn't bet on it," Ron said, "They might not count as clothes. They didn't look anything like hats to me, more like wooly bladders."

Hermione didn't speak to him all morning.

* * *

Double Charms was succeeded by double Transfiguration. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall both spent the first fifteen minutes of their lessons lecturing the class on the importance of O.W.L.s.

"What you must remember," said Professor Flitwick, squeaking every word, as he stood atop his precariously high stack of books so that he could see over the top of his desk, "is that these examinations may influence your futures for many years to come! If you have not already given serious thought to your careers, now is the time to do so. And in the meantime, I'm afraid, we shall be working harder than ever to ensure that you all do yourselves justice!"

They then spent more than an hour reviewing Summoning Charms, which according to Professor Flitwick were bound to come up in their O.W.L., and he rounded off the lesson by setting them their largest amount of Charms homework ever.

It was the same, if not worse, in Transfuguration.

"You cannot pass an O.W.L," said Professor McGonagall grimly, "without serious application, practice, and study. I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an O.W.L in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work."

Neville made a sad little disbelieving noise at this.

"Yes, you two, Longbottom," Professor McGonagall continued, "There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence. So… today we are starting Vanishing Spells. These are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until N.E.W.T. level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your O.W.L."

The Professor was only right to some extent, because Toshiro attempted the Vanishing Spell on a snail and vanished it within two tries. Hermione completed it within three, just behind Toshiro. Rukia vanished her snail in five tries.

"Fifteen points for Griffindor!" McGonagall cried happily once she had seen the snails on Toshiro's, Hermione's, and Rukia's tables disappear.

The rest of the class looked quite astonished when they saw someone (Toshiro) correctly complete a spell before Hermione. They had then looked slapped whenever the taicho glared at them in response, and practically forced them to continue attempting to vanish their snails.

Toshiro noticed that Renji, Ichigo, Ron, and Harry were having some troubles with their snails, but made no attempt to help them.

"It's not my fault I'm a prodigy," the taicho thought lazily. And it was true, even in the Wizarding World. Toshiro had either tied with or surpassed Hermione in every subject they had taken so far.

"Now that I've vanished my snail, what do I do..." Toshiro thought once again to himself. He decided: 1) to never show this spell to Matsumoto so that she couldn't vanish her paperwork, and, 2) to use it on Matsumoto's "hidden" stash of sake.

At the end of the class, everyone but Toshiro, Hermione, and Rukia was assigned homework. They had to practice the Vanishing Spell for a fresh attempt on their snails the following afternoon.

Toshiro didn't really care about any of this, though, because he was alredy finished with all of his other homework (along with the other shinigami), and considered spells to be quite easy. In his opinion, mastering spells was much easier than achieving Bankai, or even Shikai.

While Harry and Ron were spending their lunch hour in the library, the shinigami and Hermione were having a pleasant, noticeably silent lunch. Hermione did not join them because she was still mad about Ron's slur on her wooly hats.

After lunch, as the Griffindors walked to their Care of Magical Creatures class, Toshiro noticed that the day had become breezy and slightly cooler. This pleased them and even caused a small smile to creep up his face.

"What's with the smile, master?" Hyorinmaru cheerfully asked.

"Oh, off with you!" Toshiro replied back, "You know as well as I do that winter is soon to come! And the fact that today is a cool, breezy, drizzling day doesn't hurt either!"

Hyorinmaru chuckled at this, and returned to the inner reaches of his master's mind.

The students soon approached the empty hut (the shinigami still didn't know that a person lived there) which stuck out like a sore thumb in the empty field. Professor Grubbly-Plank was standing approximately ten meters from the hut's door, waiting for the students' arrival.

There was a long table situated in front of her, laden with many twigs. Judging by the subject of the class, it didn't take Toshiro much effort to figure out that these were magical creatures of some sort. The only problem was identifying exactly *what* they were.

Soon after the group of students made it to Professor Grubbly-Plank, Toshiro noticed that Malfoy and his gang were approaching the rest of the class and him. They were whispering to each other, giggling every once in a while, and looking up toward Harry every so often.

Didn't take much to figure out who the subject of their jokes was.

"Everyone here?" barked Professor Grubbly-Plank, once all the Slytherins and Gryffindors had arrived, "Let's crack on then — who can tell me what these things are called?"

She indicated the heap of twigs in front of her.

Hermione's hand immediately shot up into the hair, and Malfoy and his friends laughed. Then, Malfoy proceeded to do a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and down in eagerness to answer a question.

He stopped immediately, however, when Toshiro sent an icy glare toward him. The taicho didn't need an idiot to ruin his day for him. That's what Matsumoto was for.

The taicho's thoughts were immediately interrupted by a loud and high screech from one of Malfoy's companions. The girl — who if he remembered correctly — was named Pansy Parkinson. She was staring, stricken, at the twigs on the table which had suddenly jumped up and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixieish creatures made of wood.

Upon a closer inspection, the taicho noticed that each creature had knobbly brown arms and legs, two twiglike fingers at the end of each hand, and s funny, flat, barklike face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered. After a moment of thought, Toshiro identified these creatures to be bowtruckles.

"Oooooh!" squealed two girls from the Gryffindor house, whom the taicho did not care to learn about.

"Kindly keep your voice down, girls!" said Professor Grubbly-Plank sharply, scattering a handful of what looked like brown rice — but were soon to be identified as wood lice — among the stick-creatures, who immediately fell upon the food.

"So," the Professor continued, "anyone know the names of these creatures? Mister Hitsugaya?"

"Bowtruckles," Toshiro said as Hermione lowered her hand dejectedly, "They're tree-guardians, and they usually live in wand-trees."

"Five points for Gryffindor," said Professor Grubbly-Plank, "Yes, these are bowtruckles and, as Mister Hitsugaya rightly says, they generally live in threes whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?"

"Wood lice," said Hermione promptly, not to be beaten by the taicho again, "But fairy eggs if they can get them."

"Good girl, take another five points," the Professor rewarded, "So whenever you need leave or wood from a tree in which a bowtruckle lodges, it is wise to have a gift of wood lice ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they will gouge out human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very share and not at all desirable near the eyeballs.—"

Of course, Toshiro already knew this. After years of being a captain, he knew that everything and anything could be dangerous in one way or another. But, not in a Mad-Eye Moody "everything is dangerous" way. After glancing at something just once, he could immediately identify its dangers and hazards.

"—So if you'd like to gather closer, take a few wood lice and a bowtruckle — I have enough here for one between three or four — you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each of you with all body parts labeled by the end of the lesson."

The class walked up to the table and began to pick their bowtruckles and grab a handfull of wood lice. Toshiro noticed Harry circle around the back and ask Professor Grubbly-Plank something.

Judging by Harry's facial expression after her reply, the wizard hadn't recieved a satisfactory answer. The wizard took a bowtruckle at the same Malfoy did, and the taicho witnessed them converse a bit before Malfoy stalked off. The Slytherin was smirking, while Harry was frowning.

As soon as the Slytherin went away, Harry's expression turned into one of horror, but soon changed back to his usual calm demeanor. Toshiro's eyebrows moved together, and his gaze hardened. Whatever Malfoy said probably wasn't any good.

Toshiro walked over to Rukia, Renji, and Ichigo — who had already formed a group and gotten a bowtruckle and a handful of wood lice, and sat down.

"Hey, Toshiro," Ichigo greeted. The taicho nodded back in reply and took out a piece of parchment and a pencil, as the others had already done, and began to sketch.

The group was pretty much silent the entire time before a loud, "OUCH!" was heard. Immediately, the shinigami swiveled to look at Harry, who was holding his bloodstained hand. They noticed that his group's bowtruckle was beginning to stalk off into the forest.

Renji laughed as soon as he saw the little stick figure stalk off into the forest, but immediately stopped as soon as Rukia slapped his shoulder. He then rubbed it, and muttered, "Itte!"

The bell rang a few minutes later, just as Toshiro and the other shinigami finished their bowtruckle sketches. They gave their detailed, labeled sketches to Professor Grubbly-Plank (who had nodded, and muttered, "Off with you now.") and made their way to the Herbology class greenhouses.

They caught up to the Golden Trio, and Rukia muttered, "Hey," in greeting. Hermione just looked worriedly at her, then back at Harry. Ron glanced at them, but Harry didn't even turn their way.

Rukia looked at Harry's hand for a moment, and then grabbed, saying, "Let me see this..."

Harry tried to pull his hand away, but winced when a burst of pain shot up his arm. Rukia glanced at him, pitifully, and carefully took his bloody handkerchief and wrapped it in a secured, tight way that wouldn't allow it to come off.

"Thanks," Harry mumbled quietly, as he just slightly released the pressure on his hand.

Rukia smiled back, and said, "It was nothing." It really was nothing. After being in the field of battle before, Harry's fairly shallow cuts were nothing. Sure, they might've seemed deep for the wizards, but not to the shinigami.

The Gryffindors soon arrived at the greenhouses, and stepped out of the way as some fourth years flooded out of the doors.

"Hi," Ron's younger sister, Ginny, said brightly as she passed. A few seconds later, the aloof blonde from the train (Luna Lovegood, if he [Toshiro] remembered correctly, which was 90% of the time) emerged, trailing behind the rest of the class, a smudge of earth on her nose and her hair tied in a knot on the top of her head.

When she saw Harry, her prominent eyes seemed to bulge excitedly and she made a beeline straight for him. Many of his classmates turned curiously to watch. Luna took a great breath and then said, without so much of a preliminary hello: "I believe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back, and I believe you fought him and escaped from him."

"Er — right," replied Harry awkwardly. Toshiro noticed that Luna was wearing what looked like a pair of orange radishes for earrings. Why the taicho noticed this, he did not know. But, frankly, they were hard *not* to notice.

"You can laugh!" Luna said, her voice rising, apparently under the the impression that the laughing bystanders surrounding them were laughing at what she had said rather than what she was wearing, "But people used to believe there were no such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!"

"Well, they were right, weren't they?" said Hermione impatiently, "There *weren't* any such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack."

Now, through all the books that Toshiro had read about the wizarding world over the summer (which was exactly forty-seven books and fifty-six pages), he had never heard of a "Blibbering Humdinger" or a "Crumple-Horned Snorkack." It was then that he decided Hermione was right. Well, people don't really believe in shinigami, either...

Luna gave her a withering look and flounced away, radishes swinging madly.

"D'you mind not offending the only people who believe me?" Harry asked Hermione, just loud enough for the shinigami to hear, as they made their way into class.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Harry, you can do better than *her,*" said Hermione, "Ginny's told me all about her, apparently she'll only believe in things as long as there's no proof at all. Well, I wouldn't expect anything else from someone who's father runs 'The Quibbler.'"

Toshiro rolled his eyes and thought, "Stupid children and their habit to judge people before they truly get to know them..."

But just then, a certain fellow fifth-year Gryffindor whom Toshiro did not know the name of (and didn't really care to know) stepped up to Harry, and announced, "I want you to know, Potter, that it's not only weirdos who support you. I personally believe you one hundred percent. My family have always stood firm behind Dumbledore, and so do I."

"Er — thanks very much, Ernie," replied Harry, seemingly pleased. At least this time, it wasn't somebody wearing radishes for earrings.

"Ah, so that was his name," Toshiro thought, "Ernie..." The taicho decided that he would take care to remember that.

Toshiro then noticed that the people who were laughing earlier weren't, and many of them looked confused or defiant.

To nobody's surprise, Professor Sprout started their lesson by lecturing them about the importance of O.W.L.s. But it all went through Toshiro's head like, "La lala la la." Yes, he got the point. O.W.L.s were important.

The taicho sighed as he rubbed his head. After being lectured for fifteen minutes, they had just been told their class assignment for the day.

And once again, nobody was surprised when they were assigned yet another essay at the end of class. Most of the class seemed very worried about this, but the shinigami weren't. Rukia, Renji, and Toshiro had seen their fair share of paperwork, and Ichigo's slave-driving teacher had given them much more homework than this on a daily basis.

Tired and smelling of dragon dung, ("Somehow, I'm happy that I don't have to go into your domain to clean this stuff up," Toshiro told Hyorinmaru. His zanpakutō just chuckled, and floated away from his master's thoughts.) the Gryffindors trooped back up to the castle. It had been another long day (in the wizards' point of view, not the shinigamis'), and everyone was silent.

The fact that many of them were hungry didn't help, either.

"Damn, I'm starving..." Renji grumbled, breaking the silence. It was just the shinigami and the Golden Trio, now. Everyone else had gone off to do their respective duties.

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, "I could probably eat a hollow..." The word slipped out of the shinigami-daiko's mouth before he could realize it, and soon the Golden Trio was staring at him.

"What's a 'hollow?'" Hermione quickly asked, "Aren't hollows empty spaces? How should you be able to eat a hollow?"

"It's nothing," Ichigo hastily replied. However, this didn't slip out of the Golden Trio's minds. Now they had the clues hollow, taicho (captain), and knew that the transfers came from a militaristic society to help clue them in. They were getting closer to finding out what these people truly were!

* * *

Shinigami Golden!

"Hey, Rukia, what are you doing?" Renji inquired. Rukia was currently hunched over, doodling in her sketch pad.

"I'm drawing!" the shinigami exclaimed. She looked quite happy.

"I know that," Renji said exasperatedly, "but *what* are you drawing?"

Rukia showed Renji her sketchpad, and in it were Chappys wearing Hermione's "wooly blatter" hats.

"Damn..." Renji thought, as he stared, horified. Just when he thought Chappys were bad enough, Hermione had to go ahead and invent "wooly blatter" hats.

Through this, Renji came up with an equation:

Chappie + "wooly blatter" hat = DISASTER

* * *

I know, boring chapter. =P But, the detention is next chappie, so that should make up for it! XD

And, I think I was finally able to add line breaks! X3 Please tell me if they showed up! :3

W00T! XD Okay, you know the drill! XD Please review! \( ^ o ^ )/

But this time, there's an actual reward! XD Whoever is the 100th reviewer will get to come up with a chapter or idea (whichever you want) for my sequel! XD (Yes, if you didn't know already, there's a sequel! X3) I'll PM the 100th reviewer the details, so REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! XD

Oh, and I've set up a poll on my profile to see how excited you guys are for my upcoming sequel! Yes, I know it's a long way, but to heck with that. Oh, and would y'all be alright with Unohana and Shunsui coming in later in DAHD? :3 Do tell! X3

So~!

REVIEW!

REVIEW!

REVIEW!

REVIEW!

REVIEW!

REVIEW!

REVIEW!


	8. Author's Note

CHAPTER 1 HAS BEEN EDITED! THE UPDATED VERSION IS UP!

* * *

Hey guys! This isn't a new chappie, and I am *VERY* sorry for that! DX I am seriously considering rewriting this story, because I just don't really like the way I started it... Oh, and don't worry, there will still be the kenjutsu classes! X3 I'll just change them to kendo. =P Anyway, there's a poll up on my profile, and I want to see ow y'all feel about this... There's a 99.99% chance I'm going to rewrite this, but if a lot of you don't want me to, I might not. Anyway, I'm sorry for taking up your time, and please vote! Arigato gozaimasu!

~Indigo


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